Take Your Best Shot

My first real exposure to Africa came through a documentary film about the singer Sara Groves. I had always had Africa in the back of my head, thinking that it was the continent shaped like an ice cream cone, with just a bit of the ice cream about to drip off the side. Being a big fan of Sara Groves' music, when I saw that she had put out a documentary film, I got really excited and picked it up. I wasn't even prepared for what I was about to see.

In the film, Sara Groves does two small things. First, right after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, she loaded up her RV bus with simple things: diapers, canned foods, just those little things people use day by day thinking they'll always be there when needed. Her and her husband Troy didn't even know what to expect when they got there. They met a couple of Christians along the way who directed them to some places to help distribute the things they brought. Watching the faces of people who just received a pack of diapers for a newborn, or watching a family get some food -- the simplicity really hit me.

And then, Sara Groves went to Rwanda. While there, she visited a museum chronicling the Rwandan genocide. At one point, the whole screen changed over to a black and white color as they entered a part of the museum that contained corpses -- a reminder of what had happened there. That was one of the first times I actually started thinking: so often numbers are thrown at us: x amount of people died here, x amount of people starved there, but we don't really grasp the individual lives represented. I had never stopped to think about the people. Each face, each story, each life.

A short time after that I was driving in my car and I started thinking, "There are so many people all around me -- driving in their cars, going places. What are their lives? What has happened to them to make them who they are? What keeps them driving down this road or even just living?" I started praying for the random people in the random cars I drove by everyday -- just asking God to touch them wherever they were at in their lives. To just bring them to Him.

A month ago I got the chance to meet Austin Gutwein. He came to the Beaverton area to do some fundraising for his organization that he started when he was nine years old (he's fourteen now) called Hoops of Hope. They raise money to help kids orphaned by AIDS in Africa, and as I spent some time with Austin, just asking him questions about his experiences, I couldn't help but thank God so much for working through students like him and giving some of them a real heart to follow Jesus, wherever it led.

Austin had seen a World Vision video about Africa when he was nine, and he started asking, "What can I do? How can I help these kids that are in Africa?" The head guy at World Vision asked Austin, "What do you like to do?" And Austin told him that he liked to shoot hoops. So the W.V. president told Austin, "Then do something with that." One thing led to the next, and soon Austin decided to shoot hoops and have people sponsor him for every shot he made. From that simple, simple thing, Austin has raised thousands of dollars over the few years he's been involved in Hoops of Hope -- all for kids in Africa who have been orphaned by AIDS.

It was a simple little thing. But God has used it to change so many lives. Sara Groves did something simple: packing up diapers and giving them to people. But God has used it to help people come to Him. As our team prepares to go to Africa, please pray that we wouldn't forget the simple things: talking to people, praying, just being there. Because so often, it's the simplest things that can have the biggest impact.

-- Shaun Stevenson, AfricaTeam2010

If you'd like to take a look, Austin Gutwein has a book that he wrote about his trip to Africa and about Hoops of Hope. Take Your Best Shot.

Also, Sara Groves' documentary film can be found here: Sara Groves: I Just Showed Up For My Own Life DVD.