“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”  (Matthew 10:29-31)

Sparrows are falling all around us, all the time.  We just need to open our eyes.  Or maybe our eyes are open but it’s too painful and we feel too overwhelmed, so we shut them again, tighter this time.  Still, the images of what we’ve seen remain even as we fight to bury them somewhere we don’t go often.

Who are the sparrows?  the homeless, the poor, the sick, the widow, the orphan, the abused child, the runaway, the veteran, the handicapped, the hurting, the helpless, the lonely (our neighbor, our co-worker)  They are all around us and they are falling fast, faster than we can catch them.  It feels helpless and seems hopeless.

I caught a sparrow today.   I sponsored a child.  A child that wouldn’t otherwise receive an education and some other things like food and medical care. Just one child, but that’s one sparrow that won’t hit the ground.  A better way of putting it is that God caught a sparrow today, but in His infinite kindness He used me to do it.  He allowed me the supreme joy of  participating in His plan. I got to take part in His rescue mission.  If I would have refused, He would have found someone else. After all, the cattle on a thousand hills are His.  But God in His mercy, allowed me to partner with Him in His eternal purpose of rescuing sparrows one by one. What a thrill it was for me today to catch a sparrow.  Now I will get to watch her grow.

Family Legacy is in the business of rescuing sparrows one by one.  Poor orphans and vulnerable children are given hope and a future in Jesus’ name.  They are given this through education, which is the way out of poverty.  But they are given so much more than education.  They are given the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They are given His Word to hide in their hearts, His promise of abundant, eternal life to all who believe.

I thought the purpose of sponsoring a child was to change the child’s life.  And that is true.  Their life will be changed.  My sponsored child’s life will be dramatically different and have an outcome that she could not have imagined before being rescued from her current circumstances.  However, I didn’t think that the purpose of sponsorship was to change my life.  After all, my life is fine, right?  It doesn’t need changing.  Apparently God thinks otherwise.

In His infinite wisdom and mercy God knew my life needed changing as much as my now sponsored child’s did.  While He’s rescuing my sponsored child from poverty and all the hardships that accompany that circumstance in this life, God is simultaneously rescuing me from myself,  my sinful,  selfish, self-centered self.  He is working on my heart and setting me free from all that hinders my relationship with Him.  What joy!  What unexpected, unexplainable, unaccountable free flowing joy and freedom.  What a sense of purpose to discover a place where God is clearly at work and join Him there.  What a privilege that He allows my participation.  I am filled with gratitude for this opportunity to sponsor a child.

“learn to do right!  Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.  Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”  (Isaiah 1:17)

“Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.”  (Psalm 82:3)

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ ”   (Matthew 25:40)

I caught a sparrow today.  I sponsored a child with Family Legacy.

sincerely,       Grace Day