More than Compassion
by Brian Ford, Executive Director
A man was sitting on the river’s edge not
far from the village he had lived in for years.
This was one of his favorite spots to think,
contemplate life, and to get away from the
hustle and bustle of life. One morning,
while the man was sitting at his favorite
spot, something upstream catches his eye.
It is a child struggling against the river
current with no life vest, fighting to keep
her head above the water. The man
immediately swims out into the river to
save this child and bring her safely to
shore. The man is able to get the young
girl safely to shore. Just then he hears a
garbled scream coming from upstream. It
was another child coming down the stream
around the bend in the river and struggling to swim and keep his head above the water. The man swims out again and rescues the child by bringing him safely to shore. By this time the man is exhausted and knows he needs more help. He takes the two rescued children into town and works to recruit more volunteers to come to the river’s edge.
Sure enough, when the group of volunteers come back to the river, they see more children struggling to swim and keep their heads above water in the strong current. The group mobilizes quickly and create a system to safely remove these children from the dangerous waters. Initially, the group of volunteers work with great efficiency and are able to bring all the children struggling to swim to safety, until the number of children coming down the river is too great for their resources. The volunteers are exhausted and distraught. One volunteer goes back to the village to beg for more volunteer resources so that no children are lost to the river.
But the man who saved the first child finally realizes that someone needed to walk upstream, around the bend to see who was throwing the children into the river in the first place so it could be stopped.
“what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God”