A Life Saved

Tell me again why we go to Brazil.  The bills are in on our most recent trip and the total is just over $20,000 – all raised by our team.  Is it worth it?  Sure, we hear the stories of the good times and friendships and of the gospel shared in word and deed.  But do our Brazilian partners really need a bunch of Americans from Beaver, PA, to do what God is calling them to do?  I think so.

Before the Partnership began, IPJA’s Vacation Bible School drew between 100-150 kids.  Now we see upwards to 400.  Why?  Because of curiosity.  Because of those “yes, you can” crafts we bring.  Because of friendships. 

Before the partnership began, few people at IPJA held college degrees or jobs that allowed them sage passage out of the favela.  Now a dozen or more members are college graduates and more are on the way. Why?  Partly because of our encouragement and financial support.  

Before the partnership, most people at IPJA were afraid to dream their dreams, to think about open doors.  Now you hear about it all the time.  Why?  Partly because God has used the partnership to help make dreams come true. “Armários Scott Bliss” is just one example.  João Bessa says the cabinet shop named after its generous American donor is now providing a full time income that he used to support his family.  No longer working for others under exploitive conditions, João is experiencing the joy and pride that he knew would come if he could somehow realize his dream of owning his own shop.  

Finally this:  Before the partnership, James was a teenage boy trying against the odds to do his best.  His father was a petty drug trafficker and his mother was tired by all that life had given her.  But for the church, there was little to encourage James.  You’ve heard stories of James before.  God has used him in significant ways in the lives of several of our younger team members.  One of those young men recently told me, “James helped me understand that you can't just expect God to show himself when you're too busy looking for
answers in worldly things.”  That’s the kind of person James is. 

James and I were chatting on line the other day and I told him that I sensed that God had used him in significant ways in the lives of some of his American friends and how important that is to me.  He responded: Isso tem sido muito importante pra mim tambem.  Eles tem me abençoado muito.  Se nao fosse por vc e eles, hoje eu nem estaria vivo….” This is very important to me, too.  They have blessed me a lot.  If not for you and my American friends, I would not be alive today….”  James is serious.  He knows too many of his peers who have not survived to age 20, the victim of gang warfare and hopelessness.  But for seven years, all his teenage age years, James has known some Americans sent by God who keep saying, “Yes, you can.”  

Why do we go to Brazil?  Because God is in the business of saving lives.

Of course, the deeper question is this:  why do we follow Christ?  But the answer is the same:  Because God is in the business of saving lives.