I’ve started this post like seven times. Each time, adjectives escape me, or overwhelm me. The video below took place at Catalyst this year, I watched it happen live. Click on the link below to see one of the most amazing moments I’ve ever seen.

While the whole video is important to watch, the part that changed me, changed my view, starts at 3:45 when a former Compassion child talks about how a man he never met changed his life. A few minutes later, at 9:30, he meets that man.

Catalyst 2009 Compassion Moment from Catalyst on Vimeo.

What this moment means to me is that never again will I look at one of these charities and think, “They’re just taking people’s money and not really using it to help children.” Never again will I send my monthly check off to Compassion and wonder if my Compassion child Jhonatan really knows or cares if we send a check.

Never again will we write to Jhonatan (see picture above) and think that what we write doesn’t matter. If Jimmy saved his letter for 19 years, it matters.

Never again will I think “So what if I don’t return that sweater that doesn’t fit back to the store. It’s only thirty bucks, what’s thirty bucks? It will cost me more than that to drive to the mall.”

Never again will I be able to say that poverty doesn’t exist, that charities are taking care of it, or that my contribution doesn’t matter.

Never again will I be able to imagine myself standing at the gates of heaven and when confronted with the poor and the sick of this world will I be able to say, “But I didn’t know.”

Watch the video and then answer this one question. “What’s your never again?”

To sponsor a Compassion Child, or two, or three, click here to learn more.

~Jennifer