Well this is not a faith based book persay or even that new, but i very much enjoyed reading it and the spirit of passion oriented service work to others that the story unfoldeds for the reader.The true story of how ONE person CAN make an amazing difference in the work done for others they choose to do in their lives. The choice away from conforming to the world, that is in human nature ,and to instead choose to live as a servant to others.This is a story of faith in essence,as it is a true selfless, courageous Christian that chooses to do this with their lives. Once you have seen poverty with your own eyes it will forever open up your heart to help the poor and needy as it did the author in stunning ways. It can bring more joy and peace than you ever thought possible but it is not always an easy or even a safe path.
I somehow picked up the "youth" version of this book ,but I really enjoyed the parts of the book that were included for youth and the detail of directing thoughts at the young reader.I think it will help me to perhaps share it with kids i come across in service work and would love to encourage them to read it as well and to get involved in service work themselves to build their self esteem , better enlarge their view of the world ,and to best serve Christ.
The story is about a young man you loved rock climbing and setting goals to climb various famous mountains to their summit. But as he traveled to other countries to pursue this passion, he began to develop deep relationships with some of the people he met along the way and his focus changed to wanting to do service work to help them.. This turned his heart to want to serve these people in ways that would promote the education of girls and boys in these poor countries by building schools and later building other things they revealed as their community needs. He is still doing this work today and gave some great bits of wisdom and insight into fundraising and working on service projects overseas.
Some of my favorite quotes and concepts expressed in the book are as follows :
* "building relationships is an important as building projects"
*Fundraising results are not always based on the number of people attending an event ,but rather the effectiveness of the speaker to share the essence of real people with names and real needs and how this information touches the hearts of those attending the event
*one needs to use community building to evaluate the needs in an area , using real relationship connections to plan ahead , i. e.where the local culture comes together by elders or village boards to evaluate their needs and determine their priorities of need.
*"The war in Iraq( and other poor countries)can be won with BOOKS vs. BOMBS"(educating its young to give them a sense of future and hope as this is a way to reduce young people accepting being used in terrorism tactics as they begin to choose life not death and this will ultimately lift them out of poverty).
*you can give youth hope and sense of the future by shaking each of their hands and asking them what they want to be or do one day( when they grow up). I saw this used by a house mother at an orphan boarding house for young children in Nairobi,Kenya and it was amazing what hope for a future and individaul pride it gave the children. They were asked to introduce themself by name and future profession( ie James/teacher, Mercy/nurse). It was a simple and effective exercise in building child self esteem and hope.
* "the true core tenets of Islam are: justice,tolerance and charity"
*Peace is more powerful than war
*"Education is like water, important for everything in life"
Monday, August 31, 2009
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