I was fortunate enough to have recently embarked on a Trip with the AidUkraine Team to deliver humanitarian aid in Poland closer to the border of Ukraine 🇺🇦.
My first very humbling realisation is how close this war really is to us. The destruction and disruption goes beyond what any of us could imagine. Considering that for most of us in Europe the standard is children safely going to school while parents rush to go to work, however for the people of Ukraine 🇺🇦 this reality is now a dream they daily wish for.
As most of the headlines divert attention to other global issues, it can be easy to remain in the safe shell of our lives and be so tuned off from the reality that right here on our European doorstep remains a frightening war zone for the people of Ukraine with some serious dire consequences for many of them, whose reality is very much different to most of us searching for Sunny resorts to bask in over the summer period.
For me this Trip was so timely and much needed. I had my own moments where life gave me a glimpse on how expansive the vision for humanity is and how GOD is committed to support those who are willing to go especially to those who have been forgotten.
Upon my return I shared my reflection on this life changing adventure to Poland with a group I have been learning money skills with, my aim was to emphasise on the importance of generosity and good stewardship and how these two practices have positioned me to be in a better place to be of help.
For over sometime, through influence from close family members, culture, biblical teachings and principles I would say I had fairly adopted generosity as one of my core values. In the most recent years as my understanding of what generosity is has been expanding to learning to manage and share my time, energy, skills, knowledge, encouragement and network in a more effective way.
While my African upbringing had instilled in me a deep sense of sharing and being generous even with the little I have however over the past 2/3 years this has extended beautifully in learning and experiencing the benefits of good stewardship.
Stewardship is first of all about acknowledging that what we have belongs to GOD and then with that in mind positioning ourselves as those who have been trusted to be care takers of GOD’s resources for the time we are on this earth. The resources GOD graciously grants us can be identified as spiritual truths, money, time, His Presence, health, relationships, energy, gifts, intelligence/wisdom, talents and influence.
As I have been increasing in skills and knowledge on stewardship one of the benefits I am seeing from it is I can channel my delegated time and energy towards things I am passionate about - to support causes that I see as important in upholding the principle of loving GOD first and others as myself. So in this instance when a dear friend told me what he was involved in over the past two years; delivering Aid for the war torn people of Ukraine 🇺🇦 I didn’t need time to think, I was eager to know when I could join him. I was ready and prepared to go. Stewardship through biblical principles had positioned me well enough to say yes. What astounded me was finding out the state of my heart at this stage in life, that money and time were not necessarily a primary decider it was that I trusted my friend and the vision he painted of what he was doing. There wasn’t a stage for him to share his experiences, neither did he need to be exegetical in sharing what he was doing, he is just simply a conduit of an earthen vessel divinely moved by compassion to actually do something rather than just pass comments on how sorry he felt about what the people of Ukraine are going through.
So there I was pestering my friend that I want to go with him and help. Arrangements were made and there we were driving off through Europe on this timely mission to be the hands 🙌🏾 and feet 👣 of a Cause greater than ourselves. This was is it for me, a Cause
