Building Future- Milestones
In Revelation 3:15, Jesus tells the church in Laodicea that they are neither hot nor cold and that because they are lukewarm, He will spit them out of His mouth. He goes on to say that while they believe they are rich and have prospered, needing nothing, that actually they are “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.”
He is counseling them on their lack of passion. They are neither hot nor cold. They haven’t truly chosen a side.
Too often, our failures don’t simply lie in our misdeeds, but rather in what we could have done, what we were capable of doing, but simply didn’t.
This is nothing new. In fact, it is quite possibly the most common error mankind has made throughout history and has had devastating results. Sadly, it is indeed a historical norm.
Apathy, and a lack of empathy such as they are, have been the downfall of man since not long after we were created and has permeated societies around the world for as long as the deeds of man have been written down.
One might argue the fact that statistically, 64% of the population of the world give to some kind of charitable work. While that is a seemingly good number, more than half, many of those donations are cursory in nature and do not reflect a passionate act intended to make positive change in the lives of those who suffer. In fact, in 2023 only 14% of all donations went to humanitarian causes. Thankfully, in addition, 24% went to “religious purposes,” so one would know that a decent portion of that became gifts to those that suffer, and the rest to furthering His Kingdom.
But as a whole, one might easily say that the human response to those that suffer has been lukewarm. We know what that means.
I say all of this because I want you to know something about yourself. You are not cold in the least and you are definitely not lukewarm! Above and beyond that, apparently you are actually quite rare.
Now I know that you give the glory to God within your heart and mind, but it would be His glory regardless simply because what you do is good and all good comes from Him. He invented it. He is it. Technically, people glorify Him all the time and are not even necessarily aware that they have done so. This however is not the kind of good works God is looking for, nor the kind of good works that Jesus did when He was here. In the end it was all about love. It was all about compassion from that love. In turn it became sacrifices made by Him in response to that compassion, culminating in the ultimate sacrifice of all time.
It is our job to do the best we can to reflect that kind of love and sacrifice in our own lives in a way that glorifies the Father. The simple fact is that we fail at that on a daily basis. Our love and sacrifices will never match His.
That being said, I can say that the love and sacrifices that you have made in this mission have culminated in an amazing fashion that makes O.L.I. rare among the many non-profit organizations out there.
To begin with, reaching the milestone of 25 years makes this mission very rare. In fact, nearly one half of all charities fail within the first five years. And out of the 1.4 million charities out there, nearly half of them report no expenses, meaning they are not actually functioning at all.
In fact, this mission to care for the orphans and widows is so rare, that we are among ¼ of 1% that have lasted more than 20 years, have revenues exceeding one million dollars and have done so being entirely dependent on “public support,” having never pursued or received a government grant. Simply put, we are only here doing this good work because of you!
But the measurement of success doesn’t come from how long an entity has been around, or how much money they have received and spent. It comes from the actual outcome and output they achieve in their stated mission and if they have achieved that in a financially responsible way.
Let’s put it this way. There are charities that exist that spend more monthly on advertising alone than our budget for an entire year. They have enough in reserve to fund their own operations from interest alone.
Yet, as I stated earlier, it’s about the output. It’s about the outcome. After all, the true measure of success in any given mission is when you are asked if you are fulfilling your mission, you can say “yes.” That is the output. The measurement of whether your mission is worthwhile is the outcome. That’s when someone asks you if your mission is making a difference in the world, you can also say “yes.”
This is another milestone that we have achieved together. We can answer “yes” to both of those questions. But it took a long time before we could definitively answer “yes” to the outcome question. Simply because it took so long to see if our programs were going to provide the orphans with what they needed to thrive AND break the cycle that creates orphans in the first place. With 25 years of measuring the outcome, we can definitively say “yes.” We know that lives are being saved. We know that lives are being forever changed. We now know that these children are becoming successful adults that give back to the world, but more importantly, that they are not abandoning their own children to the same fate that they suffered, but rather raising their children according to God’s instruction.
But this mission goes even deeper than that in terms of outcome and what it does for the orphans and widows that receive the love and care you give them. What has it done for all of us that are involved? How many people out there can say that they have saved someone’s life? How many people can say that they provided food, clothing, education and hope to a complete stranger? How many can say that they are showing love to strangers the way that Jesus did and are expecting nothing in return?
Yes, we may give all of the glory to God as we should, but we are definitely receiving something in return that may not be expected, but is real. For when we help the least of these, our hearts are warmed and it feels good. When we watch the children we care for transforming before our very eyes, our souls are fed and ultimately we become an example to others.
As the summer has faded away and fall colors now paint the landscape, it is a reminder that father time has marched us to the door of yet another year. None of us truly know what lies beyond that door, but we can rest assured that it will be a mix of good and bad as it always is. A mixture of tears and laughter. Goals achieved and goals failed.
As that time approaches. As this year blends seamlessly with the next, I want to personally thank each and every one of you for making this mission possible. Not only for making it possible, but for helping us beat very long odds that we would even be here at this point. Let alone the fact that along the way, we have saved and changed thousands of lives. It began as strangers banding together to help strangers in God’s name and to His glory. As the years have passed, we are no longer strangers and many of the children we help have been in our lives for years. We have watched them grow up together. Watched together as dull, sad eyes were filled with that spark of hope and trust that good things were on their way.
Every month, young adults who were merely infants and toddlers when we began helping them, write letters. Letters to thank their sponsors. Thanking O.L.I. Thanking God and Jesus. Thanking all of the above for their very life. For feeding them, clothing them, giving them a warm and safe home filled with love. Teaching them about God and Jesus and providing them with an education and hope for a far better life than the one they were born into.
When a young adult in their final year of college, or beginning a new career, thanks all of us for everything in their life and asks for God to bless us… now that is a milestone.