Of Dragons and Sheepdogs

I am returning to Haiti this March and still short on my fundraising. If you are able to contribute please see the end of this entry.

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Sheepdog among the Sheep

My 15-year-old son came home from school on a Thursday, and apparently he and my wife had been talking on the ride home. My wife said that he was lamenting that there were no more dragons to slay and so nothing that a young man could do to earn honor and to become a knight.

We were quick to point out that this wasn't true, but the dragons have changed. I pulled out the book "Love Does" and told him about the author Bob Goff.  Bob was a lawyer that walked away from a lucrative practice and went to Africa help get young kids who were thrown in filthy prisons for petty offenses and had no chance of ever getting out. Bob worked to be able to practice law in Uganda and then went to court for the kids and worked to get them freed. He shut down many prisons and slayed many "dragons."

Two days later, my wife and I went to see the movie, "American Sniper". In the movie, the father of Chris Kyle related a story to Chris when he was very young. The story describes people in three categories: sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. The sheep were those people who could not or would not see evil in this world. The wolves where those that embodied evil.  The sheepdogs where those that saw the evil and moved to protect the sheep.

I think my son feels the urge of the sheepdog.

After the movie, I was attempting to explain to my wife that, through my experience, I believe this need to be a sheepdog is a common feeling among men. And in a modern world, it can be hard to find ways to express this desire.

Another scene in the movie, when Chris Kyle was at home between tours in the Middle East, Chris was expressing frustration and confusion to his wife that while there was a war and men dying, people in the US were going about their lives without a care in the world. Chris couldn't understand how it could not be on the news all the time and how they could just take a casual trip to the mall.

I understand and share my son's frustrations, and while I can't begin to even suggest equivalency between Chris' experience and mine, I share his frustration as well.

I long to help the people of Haiti. I have visited there for several years now, and I think beyond going because I am commanded by God to serve, I also go because of an internal desire to try to protect others. I am not saying I am actually doing much good, but I go because I long to contribute in some small way.

I have similar feelings of frustration when I return from Haiti. It is hard to deal with a world that is not constantly talking or thinking about the need and pain in Haiti and other parts of the world and how to help stem the tide of evil. I worry that I may become that guy that is a one-trick pony, that people run away from me because all I talk about is Haiti; I have to make a conscious effort to not be that guy. Is that wrong? Should I not do that?

There are many dragons in this world. This world needs people that will step in front of evil to bring protection. People that will put others before themselves. I believe God puts this need in our hearts and wants us to act; I believe that is one of our roles in this world. Sometimes that role comes in the form of soldiers; sometimes that protection comes in the form of service to others.

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If you are able to help support my trip, you can either send contributions directly to me (contact me and I will give you my address) or to the church with which I will travel. Contributions are tax deductible. The address of the church is:

Union Church
C/O Jonathan Wright-Gray
P.O. Box 7028
Ocean Park, Maine 04063
(Please put "Haiti" and my name in the memo of the check.)

Thank you and God Bless,
David