So as I posted below, I want to add a sponsor child to our family. We already sponsor two kids through World Vision, but I’m feeling challenged to do more. To write more often to the kids we do sponsor, and to add another child, this time through Compassion (I have great respect for both organizations). Lately, when I troll sites written by sponsors, especially ones talking about sponsors who visit their kids, (like this one) I end up in tears. And as Frederick Buechner wrote, when you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected ones, it is well to pay the closest attention.

Here’s a video I found on Compassion’s website. Click through to watch it: 28031411. Why wouldn’t I do without a few things so that a child in desperate circumstances can have food, clean water, education and a chance to hear about Jesus?

I have a dream of sponsoring a whole bunch of kids. For some reason, God has put the country of Uganda on my heart. Uganda, it seems from my limited research, is a mess. High rates of AIDS, extreme poverty, war. Ugg. Part of me asks God, um, really? Uganda?

It feels a little strange looking through pictures on Compassion’s website–almost as if I am somehow “shopping.” Some kids have a little heart on the margin of their photo, which I see means that they have been waiting for six months or more for a sponsor. This again, makes me teary.

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm

So I am looking for a child, asking God which one. I am not seeking the cutest or the brightest. I’m looking for one who might not be the first to be selected. The lost lamb. the one whose performance in school is average at best. I do want to sponsor a girl, because I know they are at a disadvantage just because of their gender.

I don’t actually have the extra money for this now, despite cutbacks in our spending. But I know God will provide, through me, for a child.

I dare you to join me in this adventure. Head over to Compassion.com or worldvision.org and let God lead you to a child who needs you.