This past weekend we had the opportunity to help do some fundraising for a very worthy cause. A little girl was born with some major organs on the outside of her body and needs a very serious operation, one that will ultimately save her life.
You would think with such a cause it would have been easy to raise money. We partnered with a local restaurant, called Mexicali, and they agreed to give 15% of the net proceeds to the cause.
A team of volunteers spent days leading up to the event promoting and handing out fliers. On the fliers it simply said, “Fill your tummy, so I can get a new one.” All we were asking people to do is go eat at this restaurant. That’s it. If they wanted to give more, great. But we weren’t asking for that.
It amazed me how people would ignore you as you were trying to hand out fliers. They were creative. It was an art form.
I would come with a flier and they would pretend to be looking at the architectural structure of the building across the street (which by the way wasn’t that impressive). Or they would all of the sudden have an important phone call and have to take it immediately.
They would do whatever it took to avoid eye-contact or have their heart-strings pulled. Because if they were to truly look or stop and interact they might feel compelled to action.
But this blog is not about them, it is about me, it is about us.
This whole experience got me thinking: how often do I see a great cause right in front of me and choose to look the other way?
Because to do something might take away from my time. Or it might cause me to care. And with caring comes hurt.
I become the master of looking the other way. I come up with lots of excuses why I shouldn’t look that way, or stop and care or interact with whoever is promoting the cause.
Because if I were to make eye-contact, if I were to stop and interact, it might lead me to action. And that is scary.
But life is full of opportunities to help, to serve, to make this world better and right.
God is on mission and he is promoting that mission all around.
The question is will we stop and act?
Justin Cherry 