Project Compassion

It is way too easy for us to forget our experiences that have profound immediate impact on our overall perception of the world. The challenge for us all is to take those experiences and allow them to effect the way we live our lives, not forgetting the immediate impact they have when we return to our world.

Project Compassion 2009 had this kind of impact on us, enough so to hopefully change our overall worldview. The opportunity we now have is to tell others about the reality of the somewhat flawed worldview most people have, or choose to have, because we are so comfortable. Most of the world does not live like we do. The reality is most of the world lives in similar or what we would call “worse” conditions than those we saw during our week in Romania.

So an immediate overall impression I had when stepping off the plane at Bergamo Airport, even before the long slow drive back to Camp Darby, was not a feeling of relief, being back in the comfortable familiar Italian surroundings. Instead I felt a strong pull to turn around, get back on the plane, and go back to Romania to continue the work we started.

We have to be careful, as we go back to our daily routines, not too forget. It is too easy! We are once again surrounded by the familiar distractions, some of which have real potential to corrupt. It can be the music we listen to, the video games we play, the web sites we surf, or the movies and TV shows we watch. Initially it has to be a conscious decision to let an experience like this change our lives. In order for it to work, we have to let it change the way we live our lives.

It can be confusing to the world looking at us from the outside. We call ourselves Christians, but exhibit our sinful nature all to obviously. Hypocrisy is something that the rest of the world views as separating them from Christians. We need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. So we tell our friends and family how we had such an amazing experience in Romania. How we helped people, worshiped together, and learned about God. How we had intimate one on one time with Him under the stars. How it was a life changing experience. Then the familiar routine and distractions take over again, and we forget the profundity of our experience. Those people we shared with, about our week, will wonder about that double standard. We’re not any better than anyone else because we go to church or go on service projects. We are all sinners, and need to project to the world not that they are doomed, but that we are forgiven.

Another profound occurrence of the week was how quickly it became obvious that Jesus really does play a part in all this. It helped of course that we were all vividly aware of the season by traveling on Easter Sunday, and working through the Orthodox Holy Week. We did not get a chance to worship with the community we were serving in, but it was clear we were there doing the Lord’s good work, all the while discovering more about our own faith journeys. There were ample opportunities to share and talk about our experiences throughout the day and then we all got to dig even deeper in our ‘cabin time’ discussions each evening.

Not a new experience for me, but it amazed me yet again how the worries of my world disappeared, and I hope I’m not the only one. We were working that week. Hard manual labor. I’m talking moving a pile of sand eight feet high from one side of a park to another with shovels and wheelbarrows. Leveling a dirt slope choked with huge roots. Hauling massive chunks of debris, chipping old mortar off bricks, shoveling rocks, mixing mud and hay to make walls. Plowing a field with shovels because it was too difficult for the horse with an actual plow to do it… We worked.

And yet, the overwhelming sense of peace I felt all week was enough to enable one hundred percent focus on the task at hand, and not think once about what I normally unnecessarily worry about on a daily basis. To get off the plane in Bergamo and have it all those worries come flooding back to me again was enough to make me want to turn right around and subject myself to even more wonderful hard labor, deeper exploration and meditation on my faith journey, and continue helping where help is needed.

And that’s my prayer today. That we all seek guidance and ask that we be led to where we can each do whatever labor it is God has planned for us. To not forget, in the midst of the distractions of our world, the reality that the majority of the world lives in. To not exhibit a religious façade, and instead project through our actions that as sinners, we are forgiven, acknowledging that our sin hurts God and those around us. That we strive to be more effective Christians, committing our lives to service for Him, doing His good work, in all aspects of our lives.