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- [00:03]
A
Life is like a roller coaster, but it's so much better when we go through it together. It's true. We are better together. And this season I'm asking our podcast community to do something together to make a difference in the world. There are hard things going on around us. Hurricanes, floods, fires, people hurting. And as followers of Jesus, we show up in the hard stuff and we build relationships with people who need us. We give each week I'm bringing you a short piece of an interview with a special guest, and each week you'll hear more about what we can do together. These are short episodes, less than 10 minutes, so come join us.
- [00:52]
B
Anyways, I got this letter from Jamie and this is maybe the most important letter in my life from Jamie. She says here, greetings Jonathan from Michigan. This is funny because she mentions Michigan in every letter. She's very proud about Michigan. She says. We receive our first dossing of snow today on Thanksgiving. Today is a great day to reflect on all the things that I am thankful for. And you are one of those that I am greatly thankful for. It is because of Jesus birth that we can have hope and assurance of eternal life after death. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11 In Christ loved Jamie again, one paragraph. This is the translation. And yet two profound ideas in this letter. Number one, no idea what Thanksgiving was?
- [01:53]
A
I guess not. How would you know?
- [01:56]
B
But she is playing on Thanksgiving. Americans are thankful about things. And she says, and you are one of those that I am greatly thankful for. Not only thankful, but greatly thankful for. And second, my hope and assurance never came from my earthly father. But had she said here from the finished work of Jesus in the cross. My hope and assurance is in Christ and in the work in the cross that he accomplished through his sufferings and resurrection. And not only the reality states God didn't provide a father. And we have the tendency to see what God didn't provide. We don't see what God actually provided. He provided a community. He provided Christ to me. And the reality is the reason I'm here with few countenance is because of this local church, my pastor Jose, who showed me what a godly man looks like. Dulce, who sacrificially served me and many other children in need. She died out of cancer, out of breast cancer. So she couldn't see the Jonathan that is talking right now. But she will in heaven. That's one of my dreams, to see Jesus. I want to ask some theological questions to a pole and I want to.
- [03:24]
A
And I want to say, see Dulce.
- [03:27]
B
Yeah. I want to honke her and thank her for the, for, for, for how she led God to use her. I made my sovereign.
- [03:35]
A
Yeah. And tell me when you went through Compassion. I have, I have so many questions. I, I kind of want to know how your story wrapped up. Obviously you're sitting here, so can you just like take us to the end and with your family and then I have some questions about Compassion.
- [03:53]
B
I can do that. So I called my father after that and, and crying. I told him that I'm sorry to be a mistake in your life, but God is, through my sponsor and the church, he has a plan. And, and you have to admit that I am the best mistake you have ever made. We were both crying. We weren't, we were not laughing. I, I say that, but we, and yeah, God restored our relationship now. And what happened after that is that God provided opportunities for me to go to university. Got a bachelor's degree, got involved now.
- [04:25]
A
Now let me just ask though, what were those opportunities? Were they through Compassion or was your helping? Like, did you.
- [04:33]
B
No, it was a church.
- [04:35]
A
Compassion in the church.
- [04:36]
B
Incredible. So when I, when I, when I reached, when I graduated from high school, Compassion supporting me through university, that was my sponsor through the funds and I got a bachelor's degree in linguistics, apply in English and many other things that I can mention. But my greatest joy is now being a husband. I have one wife. I make the joke because it's hard to make my wife happy. She's gonna listen this, she's gonna be angry.
- [05:12]
A
She's gonna say, why'd you say that about me?
- [05:15]
B
We have two boys, Jonath and Jonathan David, J.D. jonathan David, he has six years old and Jonathan Edwards, two. Okay. And so that's a great joy for me to be a father now to make sure they don't listen, that they are mistake.
- [05:31]
A
Yeah.
- [05:32]
B
And, and now what I do in my ministry in the doctor I basically serve in the leadership team in the Dominican Republic. And we're serving 65,000 children throughout the Dr. And we work in partnership with 235 churches.
- [05:49]
A
Wow.
- [05:50]
B
So what I do is basically connecting churches, donor supporters to their work of compassion. But at the same time, it's my team who oversees all reports to supporters letters, updates of the children, questions that sponsors have only the letters, 40,000amonth. So that's a lot of work. But we are thankful and, and I can. But thanks the Lord for the opportunity.
- [06:17]
A
And then you, then you travel to the U.S. do you travel all over the country and you talk about Compassion and the work they did in your life. And yes, encourage those to sponsor children also.
- [06:29]
B
I believe my call now is to educate people on, on how God is working through his church in the context of need and how people can join God in that mission.
- [06:41]
A
Yeah.
- [06:41]
B
Of releasing children from the worst poverty any human can face, which is the need of Jesus because you can provide food and school supplies, but the need of Jesus, the eternal need children have, that's the worst need and that's, that's our aim. Wow.
- [06:58]
A
Amen to that. I. What I love about Compassion and having worked with them over so many years is the very fact that you said they work with the local church. So it's not about an organization that's coming in and a bunch of people from other countries just coming in and swooping in and providing things and leaving. Compassion trains and equips the local church. So they're there every day, every week with the kids. Just like you mentioned, you had dual to go to. You had those people to be. To provide not only the physical things, but love and compassion and to share Jesus with you. That, that they love you, that you didn't have to fight. And so I really, really love that about compassion and I feel like that's a big difference maker with, with them. And so I want to ask you, because some people are still skeptical, we can talk. There's a lot of great organizations out there, but there, there may be some shady ones still out there. So if people are scared saying, I don't really know if my money is going to reach these kids, how can you assure me? How can I feel good about my sponsorship? Can you just talk a little bit about that?
- [08:20]
B
That's a great question and I love that kind of questions and I love to spend time with people speaking about that.
- [08:28]
A
Come back next week to hear more about Jonathan's story. To see how we can make a difference together. Go to Candice.com and click where it says the word compassion. You'll see more about my story and be able to change the life of someone like Jonathan. Go to Candice.com click where it says Compassion and join me until next time. Be grateful all day, every day. Candy Rock Entertainment all rights reserved.