I Left My Heart In ...Africa?

This Sunday,

I'm going back for that heart I left in Africa.

To be honest, I haven't thought much about the trip as much as I should have been. I used one of those, "Oh when I get done with this, then I'll do that," kind of excuses. It's just that now there's little time left to do that.

Instead, I've been thinking about how blessed I've been this past semester (which isn't a bad way to spend my time!). When people ask me how my first semester at Berkeley was, I immediately respond with something like "Great! God blessed me so much this past semester and I absolutely loved it!"

...but today I wondered WHY.

Why did HE bless me with such a good first semester experience?

As I waited for my plane ride home today, I read these verses:

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5:24

You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.

If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry."

- Exodus 22:22-23

And I read this in Rob Bell's book Jesus Wants to Save Christians:

"God always hears the cry of the oppressed. God cares about human suffering and the conditions that cause it. God is searching for a body, a community of people to care for the things God cares about. God gives power and blessing so that justice and righteousness will be upheld for those who are denied them."

I remember my trip last year to Africa, and more specifically our short time at the Missionaries of Charity in Kenya. That day, I played with mentally and physically handicapped orphans. I held babies that were left abandoned on the doorstep of that gated community. I remember how they cried whenever we put them down, because they just wanted to be held, to be loved. I can still hear them crying.

And I remember my anger rising at how wrong that whole situation seemed;

I remember my heart breaking for these beautiful creations of GOD.

As stretching as it might sound to you,

THIS was why I was blessed by GOD this past semester.

I was blessed so that GOD could remind me why HE has given me a heart for Africa.

Not because, by my going over there, I can rid the place of injustice and human suffering. Not because my short-term missions trip is going to create some everlasting change. (On the contrary, there are millions of people - Christian or not - who go to Africa and do much more for much longer than I will be doing.)

But because I am part of that community for which God is searching. I am one of those people who is called to care for the things God cares about.

Because I am part of the body of Christ.

And you are too.

And because, by telling you my experiences there,

You will become angry too.

Your heart will break as well.

And through us and the rest of God's community,

we can let justice roll and righteousness flow.

How absolutely powerful.