God in a Garage Sale

I'm going to Iraq in April.

I've mentioned the Preemptive Love Coalition before... it's an organization that was begun by friends from our church who felt called first to Turkey, and then ultimately to Iraq. Their group, the PLC, facilitates heart surgeries for Iraqi children. Since Iraq doesn't have the medical facilities necessary, PLC provides the money and facilitates the trip to other countries in order for the kids to receive the life-saving surgery.

These kids have many different kinds of heart problems, but the most common diagnosis is Tetralogy of Fallot - the same condition as Whit.

We have financially supported our friends for a while now, but recently I began praying about being personally involved. For many reasons, this was difficult for me. I have to be honest... I was extremely hesitant because getting personally involved is messy, and it almost always requires a sacrifice. I'm still quite content to stay inside the safe, comfortable walls of my home and feel sorry for myself. I mean, I'm still entitled to that, right? No one would blame me, would they? Staying here and sending money is a great option.

Before I got past that hesitation, I was faced with another: my pride. I began to realize that what was overcoming my hesitation to moving outside the walls of my home was not a Godly calling, but a search for significance. What a noble thing to do: go to Iraq and help the helpless. I mean, that's something to be proud of. Look at me, everybody!! I'm making a choice to go to that "bad" place and help people. I must be very Godly. [And yet, is it really? The reality is that it's little more than a tip of my hat to the needy.... but that's another post].
I didn't want that to be my motivation. I wanted to have a heart of compassion and love for people in need. I wanted to have the desire to follow Christ's example and command to "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." (Prov 31:8-9).

My confession is that my motives are not completely pure... that part of what is pushing or pulling me to Iraq is my own ego. But I do want that to change, and I believe that God has the power to use even poorly-motivated people, and if I wait to move until my motives are completely pure, I will never move.

And my dream and my hope is that by going to Iraq, by falling in love with families who are distraught over the health of their precious child, by seeing first-hand how God is working in amazing ways, by witnessing the transformation of hearts both physically and spiritually, that I will be so captivated by God that I will come to know truth: any good in me, any ability to help another person, any so-called "sacrifice" that I am able to make, is mine only because of the power of Christ. Christ alone is able to transform my offering of filthy rags into something meaningful and beautiful.

I had a garage sale this weekend. I know that seems like a leap in blog-thought, but there really is a connection. When I agreed to make the trip to Iraq, I had correctly estimated the cost of my trip to Istanbul. However, I had mistakenly assumed that from Istanbul to Iraq would be a quick (and cheap) bus ride. [Isn't that so ignorant of me... it's like I think that the entire area of Turkey, Iran, Iraq is just all the same place. As if someone from Iraq could fly into JFK airport and then just hop on a quick bus to Texas]. Anyway, as it turns out, the trip from Istanbul to Iraq is an additional SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS! Yikes! Thus... the motivation for the garage sale: I was hoping to offset this additional expense. With the help of my very generous friend, Jen, who donated several BIG items to my cause, I thought I had a decent chance of knocking a big dent into the $700.

After we closed our doors, hauled the unsold items to the Salvation Army, and put our garage back together, I counted my earnings. Would you believe the total?...

SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS AND SEVENTY FIVE CENTS!!

Praise God! Could He be any better?