Heart Matters

It was dinner time and I had just got home from a long day at the office. I was out all last week and away from home and today all the duties and stress were piled upon me. After a long drive home in my un-air-conditioned car, I was a little grumpy for some reason. So I came into the house only to hear my daughter had picked up the habit of saying, "Oh My Gd!" when she was not actually praying to God. Now I know that this is not considered using the Lord's name in vain but to me it represents a dis-respect in the heart. So I sternly corrected her and walked out of the room. Yeah, sometimes my daddy skills need some work. About one second later, she starts crying even though I didn't touch her. I didn't need to because I hurt her where only her dad can, somewhere deep in her little heart. It then took about five minutes of telling her I love her and holding her and explaining in a calm voice why I was so upset, of course I don't know that she is even old enough to understand it. Ugh. How delicate the heart is emotionally.

Later, after dinner, the kids usually get snacks. My boy breaks out the Cheetos (oh yeah) and my daughter the fruit snacks. They decided to share each of them so they could each have some of the other item. I watched the transaction go down. About ten Cheetos is worth 4 Gummies. Then, after having just one Cheeto, my daughter says, "Here you can have all the fruit snacks left. She had only eaten three out of the bag. She really loves her brother sometimes and there are times that he does the same for her. This brings me joy and reminds me of how big the heart can be lovingly.

All this to say my kids are blessed with good hearts (most of the time). But this is not the case for a little 8-year old boy named Achile. You see, while his heart is emotionally and lovingly well, he has a congenital heart defect called tetralogy of Fallot. Because of Achile's heart condition, he has been in pain for five years and hasn't been able to attend school regularly and receive the full of benefit of sponsorships through Compassion International.

Compassion International has provided medical care for Achile for the last two years at the National Teaching Hospital Yalgado Ouedraogo in Burkina Faso in western Africa. However, doctors there now believe his condition requires urgent heart surgery, which is not available in Burkina Faso.

Achile will be transported to a specialized hospital in India for a lifesaving operation that will cost an estimated $20,449. If you are using a blog reader you can use this link to contribute toward helping Achile have a full heart and show him how big a heart you have in the process. If you are on my site, there is a link to your right with a picture of Achile.

Any funds raised in excess of the cost of Achile's surgery and transport will be rolled into Compassion's Medical Assistance Fund to aid children in need of medical help in the future.

And he will answer, 'I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.' -- Matthew 25:45