Jossy Chacko

Brothers and sisters, I’ve spent the last few days in Singapore, meeting with business leaders and motivating them to lead a life of significance… it’s impressive, probably one of the most organised and cleanest cities in the world. 

Then the contrast – today I’ve woken in Lucknow, North India, it’s noisy, polluted, and it’s SO hot. There’s no air conditioning, but my hotel is still better than 90% of the homes in India.  I pick up the newspaper and its headline grabs me at the throat – “Not Enough Food… So Children Learn To Eat Mud.”

 The mud is laced with silica, it fills their distended bellies so for a brief moment, they imagine they are full. I think of my own four children, especially Joshua and Jasmine, aged 3 and 5. As a parent, how would it feel to watch your children eat mud because they are starving? You are helpless because you cannot feed yourself.

 Yet this is what is happening in one of the fastest growing economies in the world, a country with more millionaires than the entire population of Australia.  The song, “What a Wonderful World’, enters my mind but it’s an irony. How can we live in a world of such contrasts, a world with riches and excess and success, while one billion of our children live, and die in poverty? That’s one out of every two.  Asia, alongside Africa, accounts for the majority of underweight or stunted children. 

This is a huge problem. But not too huge that we cannot offer solutions.  There’s more than enough money in the world to solve all of the problems of poverty and health. But is there enough political and moral will?  Are there enough people willing to share their wealth? It made me think, if I had a billion dollars, what would I do?  Where would I spend it first? Who was most needy? It still wouldn’t be enough… the problems are insurmountable.  It’s all too hard…

But then I realised I was doing what we all do – getting stuck on the big problem, on the macro. We think about the big problem and become trapped… so we reach the conclusion that we can do nothing. The solutions required for such a huge problem are exactly that, HUGE.

Instead, we should be asking, what do I have, and what can I do?

 Today, through Empart’s initiatives, more than 3,500 children are cared for, given education, food and hope. And that’s because there are so many individuals who haven’t been overawed by the bigger problem. Instead they care to give and share what they have, rather than being paralysed by what they don’t have.

 So here’s what I can do – I can ask you for help – for the children who have to eat dirt. Go on, do a stock take of what you have? Take a chance – decided to use your skills, your gifts, your passion to change the world.  Could you tell me now, via this blog, commit in writing, what you’re willing to risk?  With this image of a little girl eating a handful of mud in your mind, what will you do?

Log onto www.empart.org and learn how your skills and your passion can help immediately.  In eternity you’ll be so glad you did.

Dear Friends,
As this year draws to a close, I’ve had the opportunity to pause and reflect on how truly blessed I am to partner so many others from around the world in fulfilling the Greatest Commission given to humanity. As we approach the joyous occasion of our Saviour’s birth, I’d like to thank you most sincerely for your prayers, support and partnership in 2009.

While we celebrate the reason for Christmas, the precious gift of Jesus, millions of people around the world have not been able to hear the Gospel message even once. Your support has enabled us to care for some of the neediest people in the world and share about the hope and new life available to them through Christ.

Let us remember to pray and continue to do all we can to reach out to the almost two billion people who have not yet had the opportunity to hear about Jesus. We are truly blessed to be able to read God’s word, enter into relationship with Him and be a part of His Kingdom on earth and we have a duty to share that joy with others.

Thank you to all who have given Empart Ripple gifts to bless your friends and family. I encourage you to make this a part of your regular giving tradition. Bicycles, sewing machines, Book Kits, chickens and Education Programs are all practical gifts that provide realistic opportunities to benefit an entire community. Remember, one gift starts a ripple, one ripple transforms a community. Visit www.empart.org to learn more about how you can give gifts that will have an eternal result.

Jenni, Jemimah, Jacob, Jasmine, Joshua and I wish you a Happy Christmas and pray you experience God’s richest blessings in 2010.
For the Lord and the lost,
Jossy Chacko

PS. This is how much God loved you, me and the world: He gave His Son, His one and only Son – let us celebrate Him and do all that we can to make His name great.

A few days ago Empart had a planning session for 2010 and one of our US partner’s said, “Please make sure that we don’t put events on during the American Thanksgiving time!” He then went on to say that Thanksgiving is the biggest family event in the USA and it is almost impossible for people to get away during this time.

This comment made me do some research about American Thanksgiving and I learnt that this special holiday has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863, becoming a federal holiday in 1941. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter and the first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians. Although Thanksgiving was historically a religious observation to give thanks to God, it is now primarily identified as a secular holiday that is a time of parades, spending time with family, watching grid iron football games and feasting – especially on turkey!

The Bible teaches us to give thanks to the Lord – not just once a year but every day, in ALL situations. But I think it is a great thing to have a dedicated day to count our blessings and to honour the Lord and thank Him as individuals, as families and as a nation. Along with my Christian friends in America, I pray that the nation of America will re-discover the original intent of Thanksgiving. How wonderful it would be to see people everywhere stopping to say thank you to God.

Why don’t you take a few minutes to think about all the things that you can thank the Lord for? If you can’t think of any – well, if you are reading this means you have life, you can read, you have a computer, internet…so just say, “thank you, Lord!”