Last week I had the privilege of visiting Ecuador with our partners at Compassion Canada. I posted some reflections on my blog March 30th. I’ve also been fortunate enough to visit the work of another key partner, World Vision Canada. Below is a re-post of my reflections from that incredible trip.
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[Originally posted September 7, 2010]
I’ve just experienced a truly incredible morning.
Here at the Bakubung Bush Lodge in South Africa we woke early to catch the sunrise. Under a brilliant orange sky we saw and heard 
the wilds of Africa come to life, with exotic birds bursting into song and a herd of wildebeests wandering by.
In this remarkable setting I took the time to reflect on this two-week South African odyssey I’ve been privileged to experience. With our World Vision hosts and a group of Canadian pastors, I spent time in some of this country’s most beautiful and affluent areas, as well as her most desperately needy regions.
I thought back to the days leading up to this journey, and specifically to the ways in which I believe God was preparing my heart. I had sensed a very real challenge from God’s Spirit to not simply come and look at what’s happening around me, but to really see things in and through God’s perspective.
So, what did I see?
- I saw people who’s annual earnings most of us will spend on a month of Starbucks coffee, but who are rich in their love for God. To have had the privilege to worship with these people was to experience a freedom in worship I’ve rarely seen before.
- I saw people whose generosity was not contingent upon their level of income. Among communities of people with very little of what the world would call “wealth” there was a consistent spirit of looking out for those with even less.
- I saw in the hearts of the Canadian pastors on the trip a spirit of compassion and mercy that should inspire all Canadian Christ-followers. Their genuine love for the people we met should come as no surprise, but it was nonetheless affirming to see such care demonstrated.
- I saw God do a work in my own heart. I was challenged to examine my own life and my own priorities. I found God changing my definitions of words like “necessities”, “security”, “possessions” and “needs”.
My final reflection would be that, as a result of this life-changing trip, I find that my resolve to see the Church in Canada become stronger, healthier and more vibrant to be more intensified than ever.
Because I believe to the core of my being that God has a truly global role for the Canadian Church to play. And the more we can see our churches prevail, the more we will see God work through us to truly make a global difference.
I can’t wait to see what the future holds. For all of us.
We were in Toronto putting on a conference, and during an evening break several of us had piled into a van to dash over to a nearby shopping mall to pick up some technical equipment. We knew this equipment was carried by only one store in the mall and, as we stood inside the mall looking at the large map, we could easily spot the store we needed to find.
As we continued our journey through South Africa along with a group of Canadian pastors, we were given the tremendous privilege of visiting our eight year old World Vision sponsor child at her home. I had visited her last year, but now with my wife Nora along, and with a year’s more relationship established through our correspondence, anticipation was running high on both sides.
