151206 Thank you for the reminder to help the poor

At the retreat centre

Since I've logged back on Netflix, I've been watching a lot of documentaries. Last night, I couldn't fall asleep again even though I was tired. Plus, there's a documentary that I wanted to watch so it worked out, I guess. The film that I watched last night was called "Living on One Dollar" - I recommend that you watch it. It's about four college guys who spend two months in a poor village in Guatemala. They wanted to experience what it's like to live in the slums living with a dollar a day. They eat what the locals eat within their income ($1/day), and sleep on the ground in a small hut, getting flea bites.

What was good about it was that they did this experiment to think of ways to help the poor in a long term. I realized that, a lot of times we emphasize on helping the poor but it is for just a brief time. For example, if we make a donation, it will definitely help the family in poverty but it won't last that long.   We have to think about helping these people long term. Teaching and equipping them so that they can help themselves is what's needed, instead of us just helping them. It made me think about in what ways I can help them. These guys in the documentary have studied economics, and they were trying to think of ways for the locals to save up or help them get loans. There are doctors and nurses out there, who can give physical help to these people in poverty. There are architects and construction workers who can design and build a shelter in the poor neighbourhoods. But what can I do?

I think I had thought of this when I first went on missions a few summers ago. I felt like I didn't have any skills that will help the people in poverty, but God still used me. It honestly doesn't matter if I have certain skills or not. As long as I am willing and obedient to God's calling, then He equips me. I've experienced it several times on the mission field. However, it's so easy for me to forget this important fact because a lot of times, I depend on myself. I'm thankful that God reminded me to help the poor, but also thankful for reminding me that it's God who equips us to carry out the things we need to do to help the people in need.