Myanmar Blog: Jack Hudson
March 26, 2019
Myanmar Trip 2019
Jack Hudson
BACKWARDS
We are always striving for more in our country…more money, more degrees, a better job, bigger house, better car, more…more…more! Man do we have it all wrong! We have become so backward in our thinking and it is just pushing us all further and further away from God. He calls us to love one another as ourselves and to give.
Mark 12:30-31 tells us when Jesus was asked what was the most important commandment:
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.”
He also tells us that he will provide so there is no reason for us to store up for ourselves as much as we can in hopes of sitting down one day and drawing from that storage. Yet that is what we all try to do in America, whether it be money or just stuff that requires extra storage buildings because our houses and garages can’t fit all of our junk that we aren’t using.
I am in my third day of my first ever mission trip to Myanmar and “wow,” it has been amazing! I have seen and learned things I don’t think I ever could have learned at home. I have seen what true love is, I have seen what loving your neighbor as yourself really means, and I have seen how selfish I am and how much we just don’t “get it” back home. I have visited three homes in the past two days of people who decided to open up their home as a church and as a place for children who had nowhere to go for various reasons. These homes are tiny compared to most homes in America with none of the luxuries we have become so accustomed to at home. However, these homes are full of kids and families, and they are all filled with so much love. It is not only unbelievable, but also very contagious. The smiles I have seen on kids’ faces and the laughs I have heard over the last few days has warmed my heart. My face has hurt many times from smiling so much myself!
One of the homes I am referring to has a family of five and then seven more children living there. The other has 24 people there including 16 children that either don’t have a home or parents that aren’t able to care for them. The families in these homes are living God’s commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. They are welcoming anyone and everyone into their home and showing them the love and kindness of a good neighbor just as Jesus meant when he said it to the disciples. They are also able to share the story of Jesus to many people in a country full of non-believers. They are not storing up for themselves and trying to see how much stuff they can accumulate. They are giving in every sense of the word and they are so inspiring.
Kristen and I have discussed fostering kids many times. I can recall in some of our conversations talking about the difficulties that might bring. I remember saying things like “do we have enough room” or “do we have enough time” or “are we getting too old” to have more kids. How ridiculous that all sounds to me right now! Seeing these kids here and watching the impact the families that are taking them in are having on them, the community and the world makes me want to strive to be more like them. James 1:27 says:
“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”
Maybe we should shift our thinking in America from striving for more money and stuff to striving for more kids and more love for our neighbors. I’m pretty sure God will smile more about that than me not taking a child into my home because the bedrooms are full or putting another box of stuff that I have accumulated in my storage room!