Look what God did through me last month!

Bing! As I glanced down at my new instant message, a sense of alarm went through my veins. It was from my boss. Not my immediate boss, but my big department director boss. Oh yeah. When he IM’s me, it is never just a whassup kind of thing. It is either A. You messed up kind of thing, or B. I need this important item right now kind of thing. You guessed it, he needed something from me. And fast. It turned out that he needed a couple children for a group of donors to consider sponsoring on a quick trip to Guatemala. This is always a tricky thing here on the 4th floor. Because you have to search for a certain child – not even a boy or girl – but a child from a distinct project. Anyway, I found two kids that might have worked, but it was Friday and I didn’t put them on hold because I was waiting to hear back on what preferences they wanted. And come Monday with the email in hand, I searched for children again… but this day, they appeared to be taken.
I sat on the request for a few days and waited to see if the children would pop up again. When my boss heard that we may not have any children available from the project he was very "concerned". After all, we are taking these prospective donors to another country to meet a child and (in a sense) sell the vision of our ministry. What do you mean we don’t have a child for them to sponsor? You see, it may seem like a small thing to you, my fellow readers, but to us, it is a BIG deal. Without a child, there is a loss of personal connection. A sense of feeling that perhaps there was no need. Without a child to sponsor, how would we truly engage these donors to promote us to their company? I felt the slight tinge of panic rise up in my stomach, the panic that I would not be able to deliver the goods. At the same exact time, I also had the contradicting thought…
As it turned out, a couple days later the same two children popped up as available. I put them on hold immediately and sent both packets to my boss as they headed out to experience Compassion. Relieved that I had delivered on my portion, I didn’t really think much about it and proceeded on with daily work life. One task down… how many more to go?!
Two weeks later my team shuffles into a meeting room for our monthly number reports. As we chat waiting for the projector to rev up, my boss says he has brought back video of their trip. Having always liked to view the trips as I don’t travel often, I enjoy watching other’s adventures from the comfort of the conference room chair. Oh yeah… this was that darn kid I searched for a couple weeks ago…cool. The reel plays. I see the child’s familiar face that I had assigned to the traveling donors. Looks just like he did in his photo. In that video clip I saw his home, his project, his family, and his friends. I started to think about what a small task it was for me to find a child for this trip for the family to visit, and what a monumental difference it made to that child, and to these travelers. And then my boss said something even more fun… “Because of this trip and meeting this child, the donors have decided to focus on this specific project and provide funding for them”. Holy cow. How great is that? Not only is the child directly impacted, but the entire project is going to have a burden lifted. Who knows what that means for them… perhaps computers for the children to learn on? Sewing machines? Colors and coloring pages? Bibles? WOOHOO! Way to go donors! And to boot, these donors are very popular with the chain of business they run. I can almost guarantee that you have eaten some of their tasty product this year!
As I sat in my comfortable conference chair I thought about me. How was my attitude while I searched for this little one? Uhhh… let’s not focus on that. What about my response to having to look more than once to find the chosen child? Again…pass. Let’s see… what about my great mental connection in response to the opportunity to help fulfill god’s plan for this community and family? Yikes. To be honest, I can’t think of one good thing that I contributed to finding this child in my heart. Yes, in the end I came through, found a child, and things worked out. But it is a clear and honest reminder that I work for the Lord and all that is good comes through Him. I can say that the next time I have the privilege of choosing a child for any tour, I will do so with a sense of empowerment. For it is not just a task for me to complete… it is the future, nay, the LIFE of others in my hands...and it might possibly be that I am the vessel of delivery. Deep stuff for a Wednesday night...