God Equips Those He Calls

Jason and I spent a good portion of the weekend at a conference at Seattle Pacific University on Microfinance. Microfinance is one way to enable poor people in developing countries to start lifting themselves out of poverty, by providing small, short-term loans that they can use to begin building an income-generating business. When the loan is repayed, it is either returned to the lender, or re-invested in another entrepeneurial borrower. Every system has it's pitfalls, but the benefits of MF are really starting to show themselves in the lives of many who have participated in these types of programs.

Skip Li, the founder of Agros International, spoke at the conference. Perhaps one of my favorite pearls of wisdom that he passed on, was that when people get involved in helping the poor, the distinction between "giver" and "receiver" eventually becomes blurred. In America, we think of ourselves as the "givers". But truly, when we connect with people who have such joy and thankfulness in the midst of their struggle to simply survive, we become the "receivers" as their joy and thankfulness changes our hearts for the better. We get excited when we watch them succeed. We are internally satisfied when we watch our dollars change a life, rather than get swallowed with a fast-food meal.

MF is an area Jason and I are drawn to, because of it's potential for helping the poor long-term, and because of it's sustainability. Somewhere I read a quote from Bono regarding MF. I may not have the wording exactly right, but you'll get the idea:

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Give a woman a micro-loan and
she, her husband, her children, and her extended family will eat for a
lifetime."

So, MF is an area we are trying to learn more about. We feel this may be part of God's calling as we think about moving to Kenya. But Jason is an architect. Amy is a speech therapist. Neither of us has background in financial training. In fact, we are just now making progress at sticking to our monthly family budget after 13 years of marriage! So we wonder...how can God use us in the area of MF? Someone reminded us of several Bible stories that show that "God doesn't always call the equipped, but He does equip those He calls." Hebrews 13:20-21 promises,

"And now, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He
produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, all that is pleasing to
Him."

So if God can raise Jesus from the dead, can He not allow Jason and I the opportunities and brain power to learn how to work in the area of MF? If this is His call for us, we have complete confidence that He will equip us.

If you want to have a first hand look at the power of MF in action, I recommend visiting the
website: kiva.org. KIVA is an on-line non-profit agency where you can review profiles of thousands of entrepeneurial borrowers around the globe, choose someone who you relate to on a personal level, then loan them as little as $25 towards their business. Over time, you can watch on-line the direct impact that your sacrifice of one fast-food meal has on that
person's life. One of the co-founders of KIVA, Matt Flannery, also spoke at the conference. He is a 20-something year old "kid" with an amazing passion for helping the poor. His passion is catching and people all over the world are battling a new addiction of helping others!

Praise God!