Welcome to my first blog post about my working with Compassion International.
About one month ago, I was approached by Compassion’s Internet Marketing Program Manager, Tom Emmons, and asked if I would be interested in doing some online work for Compassion. After some time in prayer and talking it over with my family, I decided to take the offer and work from home for Compassion.
I have currently worked 68 hours for Compassion doing anything from Myspace promotion to social bookmarking to checking various websites that we could possibly put links on.
I do have to say that it is very interesting work. It is something that I never really thought that I would be doing this summer, but God works in some crazy ways.
As I worked more and more, I started to realize that there are thousands of children that need to be sponsored across the world. God was tugging at my heart, but I didn’t listen. I went to Creation knowing in my heart that I needed to sponsor a child, but in my head not thinking I could afford it.
Then, on Friday night, Bob Lenz (an amazing speaker) really spoke to my heart. He talked about his daughter and how she graduated from a Christian college for $35,000 a year, while thousands of children across the world can not even go to school. It was right then that I realized how selfish I have been with my money.
On my blog, I recently announced my decision that Grace is the place for my face. Grace College is not really that expensive, but it really isn’t that cheap. After all of my scholarships and grants, I will be paying about $14,000 a year to go. If I can pay $14,000 for an education, I can surely find $32 a month to sponsor a child. I really realized that I could do it after Bob said that it was only $384 for the ENTIRE YEAR!! That really is not that much…
Let me put that into perspective for you…
$384 could buy…
-110 cups of $3.50 coffee. (or any other $3.50 item)
-96 gallons of gas at $4 a gallon (or any other $4 item)
-32 cds at $12 a disc (or any other $32 item)
-~6.5 video games at $60 a game (or any other $60 item)
-2 of the new LG Dare cell phones (or any other $200 item)
-~43 copies of either Barack Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” or “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” from Amazon (or any other $9 item)
-32-39 copies of John McCain’s book “Faith of My Fathers” or “Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life” from Amazon (or any other $10-$12 item)
-16 copies of the Blu-ray version of The Bucket List from Amazon (or any other $24 DVD or item)
-~19 copies of The Bucket List from Amazon (or any other $20 DVD or item)
-1 Amazon Kindle or any other $359 item
-~6 of the CHEAPEST! Coldplay tickets when they play in Las Vegas!
-~13 of the cheapest Radiohead tickets when they play in Cuyahoga Falls, OH!
-~11 of the cheapest Jimmy Buffet tickets when he is in Cincinnati. It would be ~3 if they were the most expensive!!!
-~4 of the cheapest Elton John tickets for his shows in Las Vegas. It would only be 1.5 of his most expensive!!
-~5 of the Blue Man Group tickets for their shows in Las Vegas.
-~4 Penn and Teller tickets for their shows in Las Vegas.
-~7 Carrot Top tickets for his show in Las Vegas.
-~4 David Spade tickets for his show in Las Vegas.
-1 Child’s life changed forever.
Sure, you could have fun watching some of the greatest comedy acts of our generation, reading books by one of our future presidents, playing video games, travel to Orlando and back from Delaware, Oh, or being over-caffinated from all of that coffee (I love every single one of those, except maybe the president thing…), or you could change the life of a child.
Give a child the opportunity to go to school, to get medical attention, to eat a good meal. All for the price of some events that may give us some temporary enjoyment. Think about it. It’s only $384 a year to change a child’s life.
I am helping change a child’s life. It’s your turn now…
Search for a specific child (age, birthday, country, etc.)
Be Found in God’s love,
Zach
Compassion Experience 
8 comments
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July 2, 2008 at 4:23 pm
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August 25, 2008 at 12:09 pm
7citychickens
Awesome Zach — It is so inspiring to read a “young” person’s perspective on sponsoring a child. I have been involved with Compassion for a few years now. It is what other organization should strive for.
Grace and peace
August 27, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Zoe
This is great Zach! I has a similar experience with Children International (http://www.children.org) which is another non profit children’s organization. Sponsoring a child really made me feel good. Just knowing the impact I had on a child’s life touched me deeply.
August 27, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Children International
Another thing that I liked about Children International is the way that they help not only children, but they also help families in need as well. It’s an overall humanitarian organization.
February 26, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Child Sponsorship Information
Here’s a great site that shows you a comparison of some of the top child sponsorship organizations: http://www.sponsorchildren.org. I used this site when ultimately deciding to sponsor a child through Children International.
December 29, 2009 at 11:32 pm
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