Opportunity Call

For a long time I communicated my energies in the Middle East in problem-centric way.  I’d articulate my efforts with problem terms like ‘poverty,’ ‘injustices,’ or ‘darkness.’  It wasn't the whole story, but it was a big part of the story I was thinking about and I wanted to do something about.  So I saw myself as responding to problems, and I’d articulate it with words like ‘addressing,’ ‘restoring,’ ‘transforming,’ and ‘healing.’  None of this is wrong.  Language is limited and the words we use rarely are sufficient for capturing who we are and what we do.  Even so, language does have value and it can reveal the kind of approach we take.

Lately I’ve been challenged to be careful about how I focus on problems.  We should never fully dismiss problems, for we live in a fallen world and part of living is dealing with problems.  However, we can choose to emphasize the opportunities.  Just as problems are part of the story (one could say especially so in the Middle East these days) so are opportunities.  This is more than just self-help or warm fuzzy feelings.  This is about acknowledging that God is God and hope is hope.

In the process of trying to foster a sustainable, hope-driven attitude about what I do I’ve come to celebrate the opportunities that God is opening all around.  We can say children come to Dar El Awlad because of problems, or we can say children come to Dar El Awlad because of opportunities.  Ultimately both are correct and we say both, but I’ve found that when I emphasize the latter I’m compelled to believe in a hope that there is something bigger going on.  There is something that I may only see in glimpses, but something wonderful indeed.  

So I do not want to answer the call of a problem (because frankly, I don’t like problems) but rather answer a call to an opportunity.  With God in heaven and the work of the Cross in the bank, there is always, absolutely ALWAYS, an opportunity for hope.