"I had no idea." For many of us, this phrase marks with distinction many of our most shocking, devastating, life-altering, and meaningful moments in our lives. When suddenly faced with a harsh reality or minute details of a previously unconsidered or unstudied thing, the scales fall from our eyes and we see for the first time in stunning, beautiful and sometimes painful clarity. For some of us, these are personal revelations about ourselves and our own depravity or ignorance. For others, we're shocked to learn that conditions previously considered unthinkable or impossible are precisely possible, even likely. This phenomenon for some marks the beginning of a deeper walk with Christ and higher calling on their lives. "I had no idea" can mark a painful moment of revelation that the life we'd been living was but a shadow of the "abundance" Christ wants for us. "I had no idea" can also demarcate the line between ignorance, apathy, ambivalence, empathy, or action. The natural question that arises then is this: Is ignorance truly bliss? Or is ignorance unacceptable when viewed in the light of what Christ has called us to be?
For Alli and I, 2010 has been a year of 'I had no idea.' Coming into our first year of work on the mission field, we had a certain idea of the "immense" need in the world and what our part in it would be. However, after dirtying our hands a bit, we soon realized, as Washington did in 1774 and American soldiers encountering Nazi camps in the 1940s, that the conditions, extent of the need and the frequency with which tragedy strikes this world was so far beyond our wildest imaginations. Committing to disaster response with EMI has served to open Pandora's box for our understanding of disasters in the world, the frequency with which they happen and the conditions they impose on the affected populations. In a prior world, unless CNN or Channel 2 reported on it and we happened to be watching that particular news broadcast, we wouldn't have had a clue that tragedies were striking people around the world almost constantly.
I chuckle when I think about the Costa Ricans that I coach in american football and their reactions to the violence of the game when they're rudely introduced to it for the first time. The new guys seem so excited to strap on shoulder pads and a helmet and finally do what they've seen their idols do for years on the NFL Network. But, that dream world is abruptly shattered by the shock of snot on their facemask. 2010 has served as a bit of shock for us in our work in disaster response.
According to the Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2009, published by the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT), between 2000 and 2008 there have been 392 natural disasters around the world each year, on average. Every year, natural disasters’ victims amount to 230.8 million people. Worse yet, the conditions that affect these populations are beyond anything one can imagine. And yet this is exactly why we feel so called, so compelled, to do what we do.
Rather than discouragement, this cruel education has served to only strengthen our resolve to follow Christ in his calls to love others, to serve the poor, the widow, and the orphan. For to love and serve the least of those affected populations is to love and serve Christ. Often, we are asked what motivates us as missionaries to continue on in the face of adversity. I believe that the Lord has a way of using these shocking experiences to take us by the shoulders and shake us out of our slumber of comfort and ignorance. Perhaps this is why most Christians find it so difficult to find a motivating passion. Perhaps it is because we have not experienced the true depravity of this world and the misery it causes. Perhaps we have not seen it because we are focused on our own corner of the room. Perhaps we are unwilling or lack the courage to turn around and see the rest of the room in all its gruesome need.
I would say that those in the world who have caught that passion for the lost have either made the choice to turn and see, or they've been ripped from their existence by the very hands of God and forced to see the depravity. For us, it seems the Lord has done the latter. And, we are forever changed because of it; gloriously changed; forever changed. In the face of this depravity, God not only shows you, but gives you the courage and the faith to carry on within it, to fight back the darkness, and to win but a few in His name.
I had no idea. We pray this phrase, surprisingly, for all of us.
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