What’s the big deal about taking care of the poor?

Aren’t they everywhere? Aren’t they always with us? Haven’t they always been around?

I know that it was a big deal with Jesus, it seemed to be quite a topic of discussion with the prophets and even royalty in the Old Testament appeared to be rather concerned with it.

That alone makes it worthwhile to pursue.

But, the thing that grabs my attention and holds it in a steely grip are the kids.

I can recite their names in rapid fire succession, one after the other, and even if I do so as hard as I can for hours, there will be more.In fact, if I were to simply say the name of every child living in poverty in the 100 square mile region around Ubaúna at the rate of one name every second, it would take me almost three years to say their names.

To illustrate how staggering it really becomes, if I were to repeat the same exercise for the northeast region of Brazil, simply saying their names in nonstop, one second increments, I would be occupied for more than 90 years.

If they were simply names, this would be merely an interesting mathematical exercise.

But I KNOW far more of those names than I’d honestly like. Names like Danilo, Rafael, Romario, Jamara, Ana, Maria, Esmeralda, Antonio, Benedita, Anderson, Dayse, Wesley, Joaquim, etc., etc., etc.

I hate it when I dream about them; I get frustrated when they invade my thoughts during the day; I become irritated when I see money being spent foolishly by both churches and believers…

But I get jazzed up when we hold a registration for more kids that we can feed through the Seed of Hope initiative of Gospel for Brazil and hundreds of families show up, with the children in tow, to become a part of it. I get all beside myself when I see adults and children realizing that someone really does care and that this Jesus they’ve heard about is real. The tears start flowing when I see them becoming genuine believers and begin attacking the strongholds the Enemy has held on their communities for centuries.

I was going to simply write that we had a registration event on Saturday in Ubaúna and that it went well.

I guess I got carried away…