And I have a really cool update regarding that post’s final story, you know the one involving World Vision. Today, I received a response from the reader who wrote me the email last week and with “K’s” permission I wanted to offer an update!
And it’s a good one… really good.
So last week, after receiving K’s email, I emailed her a response. But life got a little crazy for K and she wasn’t able to respond right away. After seeing today’s post, she responded. Here’s some of that email….
Thank you so much for your very thoughtful reply. It absolutely caught me off guard and I am sorry I have been unable to write back until now….
[After sharing some of her story, K wrote….] With all that said, I despise churchy. And as far as money goes, well, we don’t have any. I don’t give a tithe to the church we attend because of the things that have happened in previous churches scare me. I don’t trust churches, even the one I like [and] attend. That is why we have six children through World Vision. I read Rich Stearns “The Hole In Our Gospel” and it compelled me to do something.  I was only intending on sponsoring 3 but I dreamed that night about the other 3 I had seen. Their eyes bore holes into my soul. I immediately woke up the next morning and searched them out and sponsored them all. I know in the comments some people thought I was lying about having six. I do. I still do. I wasn’t trying to bluff you. After your email [the one I sent last week], we prayed as a family and I decided that the children do not represent you, nor you them. I made a rash decision that was stupid. They are MY kids and I love them. And yes, I am crying as I type this. It takes all the extra that we have to take care of them. But I love them. We have a little boy from Haiti that I worry about so much. Things are so bad there. We have one from Senegal where I have really good friends that are missionaries. We have a little girl from Honduras, a boy and girl from Ethiopia, and a boy from Armenia.
I teared up reading that part of the email. I mean, all of us jump to conclusions and react hastily in the moment. But only sometimes do we have the guts to admit it…
I responded again and told her that I was so happy that she and her family decided to not give up their child sponsorships! I also added that, I’m glad she sees them as a part of her family. I wrote “YOU and your family MEAN the world to them. Seriously. When I was in Uganda, on behalf of somebody who wasn’t able to make it on the trip because of health reasons, I presented their sponsorship child with gifts… here’s a YouTube video of it if you’re interested…
And I sent K the link to this video…
(If you have the time, watch the video… it’s pretty cool…)
An hour or so later, I got this response from…
Hello Matthew,
I watched the video.
We now sponsor seven children.
We welcome Moureen to our family today, a beautiful little 4 year old girl from Uganda.
Wow. Pretty amazing, huh? I never expected things to end up like this. When I wrote this morning’s post, I certainly wasn’t expecting to write an “update.” But I’m so grateful that I am. And I’m humbled by K’s humility and she and her family’s heart for giving.
I think the best to conclude this email is to use the final words of K’s email. She wrote…
How bad I feel for thinking of giving them up will never be portrayed in words, but our ensuing conversation has made me see some things differently. God works all things together for good.
Agreed. 🙂
(And PS: Forgive me for the cheesy photo I put at the top of this post. I hate posting blogs without some sort of photo… and that’s not always easy.)
Read Previous Post
