{"id":2721,"date":"2012-09-06T11:01:13","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T15:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/?p=2721"},"modified":"2012-09-06T11:31:10","modified_gmt":"2012-09-06T15:31:10","slug":"touching-the-image-of-jesus-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2012\/09\/touching-the-image-of-jesus-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Touching the Image of Jesus: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/p>\n

Alexandra, looking ready.<\/p>\n

<\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes there’s a lot more going on than we can see with our physical eyes. At least, that appears true in the case of Alexandra Warwick.<\/p>\n

I first introduced you to Alexandra in this post, Rejecting Slacktivism<\/a>. I was intrigued by the massive response to the Kony 2012 video campaign. As the likes and shares reached into the millions, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if even a small fraction of those young people did something more than just click, “Like.”<\/p>\n

And that’s when I read this blog<\/a> from Alexandra. In it, she describes the kind of passion and commitment that I felt was missing from all of the Kony craziness.<\/p>\n

What happened after that, well… I wanted Alexandra to share that in her own words. So she’s going to take over the next few posts to explain to you how a t-shirt turned into something much larger. Something that you had to live through to believe.<\/p>\n

Following Jesus: Part 1
\n<\/strong>by Alexandra Warwick.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAre you ready?\u201d<\/p>\n

My friend Carrie stares down at me from her bed with a small smile on her face. We\u2019re at the guesthouse on our first night in Swaziland and she\u2019s bundled up in her soft white comforter, protected from the cool evening air. The sound of her voice floats through my head but I don\u2019t really listen to what she\u2019s saying because I\u2019m curled up in the corner of the room writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d I say absentmindedly as I pull my head up from my journal.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you ready to go to the CarePoint tomorrow?\u201d she repeats a little louder. I close my journal, put my pen down, and think.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I say.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not ready. But I\u2019m doing it anyway.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Months before, I saw one of my Facebook friends post about a trip to Ludlati CarePoint in Swaziland. I don\u2019t remember where I was, what day of the week it was, or what time it was, but I do remember being overcome by the gripping idea that I needed to go on this trip. However, almost as soon as the desire popped into my head, doubts and worry popped in also.<\/p>\n

I knew it was a Christian mission trip, and I wasn\u2019t Christian. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Would the team even want me to go with them? And besides, this was a third world country we were talking about. I could think of much safer ways to serve my brothers and sisters. I couldn\u2019t shake the desire, though. Something kept telling me, \u201cGo! Go! Go!\u201d \u00a0So, I took a leap and contacted the team leader.<\/p>\n

When I told my friends and family about my desire, I got asked so many times, \u201cDo you think you are ready to go on a trip like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Every time this happened I would think about how crazy I was for wanting to fly across the planet with a group of Christians I didn\u2019t know to spend time in a third world country serving children at a CarePoint I knew almost nothing about.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019d tell people the truth and say, \u201cNo, I\u2019m not ready. But I\u2019m going to try to do it anyway.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next question I started getting was, \u201cBut how are you going to raise the money?\u201d And again I\u2019d have to be honest and admit that I had absolutely no idea how I was going to raise the money because unlike the other team members I was traveling with, I didn\u2019t have the support of people from my church. I didn\u2019t go to church at all.<\/p>\n

I knew a total of about three people who wholeheartedly supported every aspect of this trip and wanted to do whatever they could to make it happen, but I doubted even their best efforts would get me the $3,411 I needed. I knew that I was supposed to go; at least I thought I knew, but I had no idea how I could possibly make it happen.<\/p>\n

And then came the t-shirt contest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes there’s a lot more going on than we can see with our physical eyes. At least, that appears true in the case of Alexandra Warwick. I first introduced you to Alexandra in this post, Rejecting Slacktivism. I was intrigued by the massive response to the Kony 2012 video campaign. As the likes and shares…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3,1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-orphans","category-swaziland","category-the-poor"],"yoast_head":"\nTouching the Image of Jesus: Part 1 - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2012\/09\/touching-the-image-of-jesus-part-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Touching the Image of Jesus: Part 1 - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes there’s a lot more going on than we can see with our physical eyes. At least, that appears true in the case of Alexandra Warwick. I first introduced you to Alexandra in this post, Rejecting Slacktivism. I was intrigued by the massive response to the Kony 2012 video campaign. 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2721"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2734,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2721\/revisions\/2734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}