Bam! That was the sound of my face, nose and tooth hitting the pavement after 3.5 miles of an 11-mile run. It was a great run! I was feeling great, so excited, then I felt my foot hit something, my body lift off the ground, and in a split second, without a chance to catch myself, my face, then my body slammed against the concrete. It was not my finest moment! I ran home bleeding and bruised.
On my way home several people looked at me like I was crazy! Not one person asked if I was OK or if I needed help. As I running, I wasn’t in pain as much as I was scared of what was wrong. I knew I was bleeding pretty badly, but I did not know from where or why. I just wanted someone to stop and tell me how bad the damage was.
I did stop at a Target, and when I asked for help, the workers were kind enough to get me a first-aid kit to clean up a bit before running home. The compassion was truly appreciated.
Compassion is something that when received, we remember for a lifetime. When we give it, we tend to feel like we did something special. Yet, compassion is something we should do as the hands and feet of Jesus.
Leprosy was a disease that was highly contagious and incurable in Jesus’ day. Those with the dreadful disease were forced to live in a colony. When in contact with others, they had to announce that they were unclean. In Mark 1:40-45, a leper approaches Jesus and says that he knows that Jesus can heal the leprosy if He so chooses. Then, “Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him,” and healed his leprosy. Jesus TOUCHED the man with leprosy.
Compassion is not something that we should do to feel good; it is something we do because the compassion of Christ fills us and we can’t resist helping others. It is something we should do on a daily basis.
Sunday, we talked to our students about Jesus’ interaction with the leper. We challenged them to be purposefully compassionate. Compassion isn’t easy because it requires us to think outside ourselves. It requires us to think about the person on the street holding the sign every day.
It’s easy to think the man on the corner doesn’t have work because he’s lazy or on drugs. But, what if we are too busy judging, to be compassionate. I am in no way saying we need to give money everyone on a corner, but why aren't we moved to compassion? Why does my heart not break?
As you know, I am running the Houston marathon raising funds for an orphanage in India. The funds will go to provide rescue, food, water, shelter, care and education for young girls who have been abandoned by their families or whose mothers are enslaved as sex slaves in the brothels of India. The girls can’t work to pay their own way. Their mothers are trapped in a cycle of death. Without God’s intervention, and As Our Own, these girls would too be in the cycle of death.
We challenged our high school students and ourselves to be purposefully compassionate. I think it’s something we can all think about in our own lives. I ask you to at least look at www.AsOurOwn.org. I have made a commitment in my life to love these girls and this ministry As my Own. As such, I can’t stop spreading the word.
My team has a goal to raise $10,000 by October 23,2011. We are only a little over $1,000. If you feel God is calling you to be compassionate, please first, dedicate a time to pray for my training, then, if you feel led, please visit my donation page https://iwillrun.myetap.org/fundraiser/houston/individual.do?participationRef=977.0.134245405. I promise you, you will NOT regret this compassionate gesture.
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