The Phil Files

My heart is in the Dominican Republic tonight! I know all the focus here in the U.S. will be on the elections on Tuesday — and I do challenge us to prayer and fasting about this in my Heartlight.org post this week. However, a group of Compassion bloggers left for the Dominican Republic Sunday and that is where my focus is tonight. During our prayers tonight, Donna not only prayed for our Compassion Children we sponsor, she also remembered to pray for those headed to D.R.

I was blessed to go on the trip to Uganda, Africa, in February of this year. It was the first Compassion Bloggers trip and it was truly a life changing experience. So those traveling to D.R. are in my prayers and I will have to say, I am a bit envious of them. They are traveling with great people — thanks Brian, Keeley, and Shaun — and traveling to help folks know more about a noble cause. In addition, we are in focus on this trip because on our sponsored children is from D.R.

Blessings to all going on this trip and my prayer is that you touch many folks with the opportunity they have to make a difference in the lives of families and help in the mission of “realeasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.” I encourage you to keep up with the trip on the Compassion bloggers website!

“What in the world is a BooMama?” I asked my wife, Donna, as tears of laughter streamed down her cheeks.

“Oh, she’s someone who blogs and is hilarious. All the girls I know read her. Denise turned me on to her because she’s a southern girl, too.”

Well, BooMama tries to explain what a BooMama is, but to be honest, the person, otherwise named Sophie, far outstripped any word-limited description. She is Southern Belle meets Southern Fried Chicken, with a sarcastic whit and a deep love for children, her family, and the Lord.

I was blessed to go on a blogging trip to Uganda with Compassion International — find out more by clicking the Uganda with Compassion tab above. Among the 15 or 16 very talented folks who came along was BooMama — I often had to pinch myself to see if I was really blessed to be along with this group: I think I was included as the token old geezer, blogging talent certainly didn’t get me in, that’s for sure! Not only did BooMama add spice, charm, humor, and an outstandingly delicious Southern drawwwwl, she was a mama blogger personified. She was great with kids and translated that love for children to her readers, many of whom sponsored a child.

Last night, after playing a week of catch up on sleep, work, writing, sermons, visits … I was sitting in the TV room watching my daughter laugh as she stared at her laptop. “You must have had quite a time with someone as sarcastically hilarious as BooMama!” Megan said. Yes, I’m in a house with two BooMama fans, but Donna has gone to BooMama land to speak with The Coffee Group on a ladies retreat at the Homewood Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

We then proceeded to laugh together as we read two of Sophie’s recent posts, Our Great Big Wilderness Adventure and My Afternoon Outside in Nature. I especially appreciated the latter, since I had gotten her to pause to show me her Southern Belle rock climbing shoes, pictured to the left — yes, I know they are Crocs, what did you expect?

While you can’t know the meaning of all of the pictures below, this is a little video summary of BooMama from my vantage point. What tells the whole story for me, however, is not something funny or crazy or Southern. When most of the group got to meet their sponsored child, I had already had an in home visit with our sponsored little girl. Having a big BooMama heart, Sophie made sure that her the little boy sponsored by her brother’s family was included in the lunch. So she made time for “Little D” and then shared him with me while she held, cradled, cuddled, and loved on her family’s little girl. Many of the pictures of Sophie and this little girl were actually taken by “Little D” who loved using my camera. Sophie’s little girl didn’t say a word until “goodbye,” but snuggled up and shared the love only a BooMama can give.

 


 

One week ago today, I was in Uganda making a home visit to the precious little girl we sponsor through Compassion International. One week! It’s hard to believe it’s been that long, and yet with jet lag and all the emotions, it seems like a month ago. But the emotions of meeting this precious little girl are as fresh and real and powerful to me today as they were one week ago!

For those that have asked, here’s a video of that visit. It took place over about seventy minutes. As you watch the video, you can detect at the beginning the nervousness on her part as well as my own. I’ve got a full video of the first few minutes and it’s painful for me to watch in its entirety because I experienced all of range of emotions as this little girl tries to figure all of this out. (You are spared all the nitty gritty minutes of this dance as we got acquainted — but she didn’t speak English and had never been around a white man.) What you don’t see are the first stages of the walk into the slum.

As this video shows, however, our interactions moved to a more relaxed, then fun, stage. At the end, we went inside the tiny little house, visited, and then came back outside and prayed together.

This precious little girl easily sat on my knee while we prayed and I got to see the smile on her face when I received the pictures from Keely about our visit — her photography is great and we were privileged to have her to ourselves for this treasured visit. My friend from Compassion, Tom Emmons, used my camera to get the digital video as unobtrusively as possible — thanks bro! Most treasured of all is the final picture that shows a joyous little girl, a loving mother, and an old preacher guy from West Texas grinning like crazy. Sweetness indeed!

Of course, no video of a Compassion child would be complete without a Michael W. Smith song in the background. This incredible artist is one of the leading advocates for children and Compassion.

I don’t know if these images tug at your heart, but I know it brings tears to the eyes of everyone in our family. It also drives us to our knees praying for God’s blessing on this child, her mother, grandmother, and siblings. (For more on this visit, please see the Heartlight.org article written immediately after the visit!)

God, please bless this child and use us and others like us to make a real difference, and eternal difference, in the lives of Your precious children. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

 

It has been a wild few days getting ready for the trip!

But now, we are all on our way for the long trip to Uganda. (Check out the map for the trip travel plans.) Today, the Heartlight.org article describes the trip in detail, but wanted to let my blogging friends know, we’re underway. Please keep us in your prayers and please prayerfully considering becoming a sponsor this week as we meet and love on these special children!

Many of you already know about the upcoming Uganda trip with Compassion International. If you are not aware of the details, check the “Uganda with Compassion!” tab at the bottom of the picture above. It will give you many of the details.

On my heart today is the success of the trip: our hope is to get more than 500 children sponsored each month. So I’m asking anyone the Lord touches with this plea to sign up to be a part of the prayer team. Through the comment feature below, I ask that if you are willing to be a part of the prayer team that you offer a blessing or prayer in the comments you leave. This will be your way of committing to pray for these efforts. Thanks!

For the next several weeks, I am asking you to be in prayer for us with two primary prayer targets:

• Hearts of people to be touched so that we can find at least 500 monthly sponsors for children throughout the world through Compassion International
• Compatibility, good health, safe travel, and redemptive influence for our team going to Uganda and that we are a blessing to the children and Compassion staff with whom we interact