Why Tears Aren't Enough

Allen shared a story about a gentleman who visited Honduras for a vision trip, several years ago. The man wanted to see if he could get involved with feeding centers. For the purposes of this blog post, we’ll call the man “John”.

As Allen and John were driving along, John regaled Allen with a story about his first visit to Honduras, in 1998. It was shortly after Hurricane Mitch swept through--killing more than 10,000 people in Honduras and destroying vast amounts of property. Individuals and groups were traveling internationally to help, and John's group came to Honduras for a week, to lend a hand. He helped with construction projects during the day and attended prayer meetings at local churches during the evenings.

As the Story Goes…

On Wednesday evening, John was at a prayer meeting when he noticed a six or seven-year-old girl. She was poorly dressed, obviously malnourished, and singing her heart out. This wasn’t just a precocious girl with a flair for music. Little Maria was crying out to God through song. Touched by the scene, John leaned over to the missionary he was working with and asked what her story was. Maria was standing beside her mother and two younger siblings. The missionary told John that Maria’s family owed a small piece of land and had some animals. During the hurricane, Maria’s father went out to get the animals to safety. In the process, he was swept away in a swollen stream and killed. The missionary said the family was truly suffering.

John wanted to know if the missionary was helping the family. The missionary said they were feeding them, but only twice a week. John was distraught - why wasn't the missionary DOING something more to help them? The mother and children couldn’t possibly survive on two meals per week! The missionary said the family was working very hard to get by. He also said there were thousands of other families in similar situations. His organization was overwhelmed by the needs. They had made an across-the-board decision to provide two meals a week to as many people as possible. The intention was to keep them from starving until a better solution could be found. Upon hearing that, John started crying.

John continued crying. He cried and prayed through the night. He was so distraught, he was unable to work with his team the following day. He continued to cry and pray through the following night. All told, John wept and prayed for approximately 36 hours.

The end.

And Then What Happened?

John finished speaking and Allen wanted to know what happened next. Surely, there was some impactful, inspirational end to the story. But there wasn’t. John went back to the U.S. at the end of his week. Allen wanted to know if John kept in touch with the missionary, to learn how the family fared, or provided financial assistance for Maria’s family. No. John said he got back to the States and one thing led to another. His business suffered a financial downturn. He was busy. Etc…

Did John eventually talk to the missionary? Did he ever find out what became of the family? No, John never contacted the missionary. He didn’t know what happened to Maria and her family.

John shared the story with Allen, fifteen years after his emotional 36 hours of prayer and crying, as an example of how much this child's plight had touched his heart - and yet he never actually reached out to help her!

The Moral of This Story

Crying out to the Lord is a beautiful thing, but if God has moved your heart on a matter, please don’t cry and then go on about your life without doing what you can do. We are called to be the hands and feet of Christ--not just his tear ducts!

James 2: 14 - 17 
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Specifically, What Can You Do NOW?

We offer multiple ways that you can reach out and help people in Honduras, through our ministry - and we work hard to use every dollar as efficiently and effectively as we possibly can.

1) Through our Manna 4 Lempira program, you can sponsor a child for $15/month, ensuring that one child will receive the nutrition they need to grow and learn, the supplies they need to attend school, and a relationship with a local pastor and church community - plus you get the opportunity to correspond with that child several times each year! To get started, click this link!

2) Through our Backpack Project, you can purchase school supplies and fill one or many backpacks, for us to ship to Honduras. Each backpack represents an opportunity for a child to attend school - and for MANY of the children in our area, their families simply cannot send them to school at all, without this assistance! This year, we are collecting backpacks in the fall, during a cross country drive which will start in Seattle Washington in September, cross Interstate 70 to Maryland, then follow Interstate 95 south to Florida, and will also incorporate locations in Mississippi. If you - or your church or other group - want to pack backpacks for us, we will work with you to get them collected! It's fun and easy - we send you a list of the items required to fill each backpack. Contact Trish at trish @ sowers4pastors dot com to get started - we NEED your help to get those kids to school!

3) Through a donation to our general fund, you can help us feed the thousands of children who are attending our feeding centers but are not currently part of the sponsorship program. At this time, we feed over 10,000 children in western Honduras, and about 2500 of those are registered for sponsorship. If you want to help, but don't want the commitment of a direct sponsorship, a general donation to our feeding program may be the way to go. Donation instructions can be found at this link!

Thank you SO MUCH for your prayers, your tears, and your ACTIONS, on behalf of the people of Western Honduras!

 - posted by Christi and Trish