Sara Groves, Part 2

So I went to the Sara Groves concert last night. It was over too soon.

But it was wonderful and inspiring and thought-provoking and a good excuse to hang out with Christy for 2 hours each way BY OURSELVES in the car. It didn't matter that it was snowing and that we got home at 1 am. I actually found myself thinking, "Gosh, the drive to Phoenix was too short!" Amazing what having kids will do to one's idea of a good time. We ate Blizzards and made plans to lose weight (starting tomorrow, of course). Guys would never understand the fun of that. Oh, and I got to take a normal-sized actual PURSE to the concert and it even coordinated with my outfit. I couldn't even really figure out what to put in it so that it would feel full and not floppy. Then I ruined that victory by wearing maternity clothes to church today, even though my baby is 7 months old.

But back to the concert. It was put on by Food for the Hungry...the night was called "The Truth About Poverty." We got to hear from a tiny little Bolivian woman who was able (through help from FH) to graduate high school and is almost finished with her bachelor's degree...the first woman in her rural community to do so. She wants to go back and run for assembly-woman so she can battle corruption in her district. That was heroic. Sara sang and talked and sang and I cried a little a few times. She and her husband have been drawn to partner with a community in Rwanda--raising money for sponsorships and schools and such. She had some really good things to say about short term missions, which I really liked. The theme of the night was about all of us seeing that we are broken and in spiritual poverty, and that the poor have much to offer us. She shared a quote from a Rwandan pastor: "If you are coming to help because you think I need you, then go back home. But if you are coming to help because your liberty is tied up in mine, then let's roll up our sleeves together." (or something like that) She shared about 12 American businessmen that were going to Uganda to put their money to good use--they had a "strategic plan" to find a "person of promise" that they could sponsor who would go to medical school or start a clinic or something very productive that would lead to "sustainable growth." So they met with different people and had many ideas of who would deserve their funding. The last day, their local host (a Ugandan pastor) took them to a village that the church hadn't had contact with in a while. The mood was light as they pulled up, joking and talking. As they exited their van, they sensed immediately that something wasn't right. The village was inhabited only by poor, hungry, scared children. In the time since the local pastor had last visited the village, all the adults had died of AIDS. There was one old woman left and all the children were being taken care of by one 17-year-old girl. The 12 men immediately went from being successful businessmen to fathers, rushing around patching roofs, helping where they could, even giving as many clothes off of their backs as they could do without. After loading back into their van in the rain, shivering in their skivies, they were silent and amazed at how God had worked to bring them to that village to help. They had found their "person of promise". The children probably weren't going to go to medical school or start a clinic, but were now intertwined with them in their hearts. Sara said it has changed everything about how these men do business.

I could tell you more, but I won't. My sweet husband battled my stubborn baby (and finally fed her with a medicine dropper) so that I could go and be blessed. He even stayed awake so he could listen to me chatter on and on at 1:30 in the morning. I decided not to feel guilty about his rough night because I thought of the nights I was alone while he went to seminary and knew he was happy to do it for me. I guess in closing, I need to correct my prediction that I would come back "ready to change the world". I need to instead say, "desiring to be Jesus' hands and feet and in the process, letting the world change me." And you know a small thing I decided that I can do starting today as an example to my kids? I can stop complaining.

Here's Christy, Sara, and I:


Here's Sara and I talking about setting up the pins and knocking them down:


Thanks for listening.