So there is this incredible person I’d love to tell you about.  It starts sad, then gets hopeful.  She lives in a country far away from America.  It’s pretty much as different and distant as you can get.  Her parents died of Aids when she was young.  Utter devastation.  How would she feed herself?  Where will she sleep?  How would she get an education?  Where will she go?  Who will protect her from the darkness of humanity?  In her home nation there aren’t many social services or organizations that take care of orphans so things looked pretty bleak; until a young Christian Pastor decided to change that.  Even though his religion is in the minority and isn’t allowed the same rights as others both culturally and legally, his passion for his ministry has been unceasing.  When he met this young girl he didn’t see a hopeless, dead end life; he saw an opportunity for grace, redemption and hope.  It didn’t take long for him to adopt this girl into his orphanage – you see in addition to running a persecuted faith community, he had already taken in dozens of children into his orphanage and forever changed their lives in unbelievably dramatic ways.  Our friend, the young girl, had no idea what lay ahead of her.  It didn’t take long before she was welcomed into her new family; the church, and given new parents, brothers, and sisters.  She learned of love, forgiveness, and salvation as she began to grow into a young woman.  Her once devastated story started becoming less tragic and more beautiful as she was given the opportunity to gain an education and provided food, shelter, and love.  In fact, each school year she somehow became top of her class, winning academic awards left and right – beyond all odds.  Her strongest subjects have been in biology and science, and she’s currently on track to become a doctor! This once hopeless and sad story’s momentum has changed so much that she is moving towards becoming an agent of physical healing to her people!  Unimaginable hope.  As she nears the end of high school, and this redemptive legacy continues, we find her plot-line coming to a crossroads.  You see, as amazing as the change in trajectory her life has taken is, it is not finished.  Typically, when students of her academic success complete their public education they go on to college.  For her, this doesn’t look like it’s an option – she’s an orphan after all.  How will she pay for it?  Who would take her into their school?  Uncertainty.

But what if her story didn’t end here.

What if we could find a way to continue her education in a state-of-the-art college?

What if this would-be orphan actually became a doctor?

What if you or I could continue this story?  What would it take?

What if?

Over the past 8 years I’ve been privileged to meet and know this girl personally and am currently in the dreaming/planning/praying stages of figuring our how to make this happen.  I find myself asking those questions.  She’s currently about 16 years old and has about year and a half window before she/we will need to have a college plan.  The top school with an incredible nursing program and amazing international department is tens of thousands of dollars; even still, I believe we can find a way to sponsor her education so she can become a doctor.  If you want to be the answer to the “what if?” question, contact me and lets do something!  If you’ve traveled with me in the past and you’ve met this amazing girl first hand and she’s been a blessing to you in some capacity, seriously consider joining me in this endeavor as we continue this story of hope.

As we look around our world there are so many “what if” questions.  I believe that the Master Artist painted and wove into our being the creative potential to not just ask the question, but be the answer, and that this is the grandest art in all of reality.  This is the life of faith.

What if?