In the history of the United States, the 1800s are considered a time of adventure and risk. Men, women, and children made their way across thousands of miles to make a home in an unknown land. The East coast had become overcrowded. Jobs and opportunity were scarce and the new territories out West must have looked like the promise land to those with nothing.
I wonder what kind of people these pioneers were? Adventurers, dreamers. They had to have been desperate to risk everything on the faint glimmer of hope that life had to be better than what they were leaving behind.
Pioneer
noun
a person who is among the first to explore
or settle a new country or area.
They say our work in South Africa is a ‘pioneering’ ministry. I take that to mean we are a desperate people, desperate enough to dream of change and a better, brighter future. Desperate enough to leave the familiar and the comfortable in pursuit of hope. We are hungry for the adventure of exploring new territories, humble enough to know we can’t make it on our own, and eager to test the boundaries of the established. We know that change is more than possible, it’s a necessity, and we are more than willing to fight for the opportunity.
Isn’t it worth the risk of failing to help alter a nation so drastically that generations upon generations are forever changed?
“This is not about pity. It’s more about passion. Pity sees suffering and wants to ease the pain; passion sees injustice and want to settle the score. Pity implores the powerful to pay attention; passion warns them about what will happen if they don’t. The risk of pity is that it kills with kindness; the promise of passion is that it builds on hope that the poor are fully capable of helping themselves if given the chance…..”
