Reflections on Designs for Hope

When I first started working with Designs for Hope (www.designsforhope.org), I really had no idea what God had in mind or where he would take my involvement in the ministry.  All I knew was that God’s hand was moving in the work that Designs for Hope was doing and I wanted to be a part of it.  Even though I haven’t done any real engineering in many years, my background and education is in electrical engineering, and so the very nature of the goals and vision of Designs for Hope intrigued me from the beginning.  I was captivated by the thought of using engineering designs and skills to develop simple, low cost solutions that can be used to enhance the lives of impoverished people around the world and could even be used to further the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Although I will always be an engineer at heart, my first calling is to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has called me into the service of his ministry.  As such, one of my passions is missions.  Imagine the joy of being able to combine that which is imprinted on you through education and years of secular employment with your divinely inspired passions.  That is how I first saw Designs for Hope.  To be honest, when Chris Bond first approached me about his ideas, I must admit that I was a bit jealous because he had come up with the idea and I had not.  More importantly, when Chris first came to me with the idea and was asking for some electrical engineering help with the design, I was more than a bit embarrassed that I was so far removed from actual engineering design experience that I really couldn’t help him.  I distinctly remember sitting in a Milo’s restaurant with Chris and thinking (a) what a neat concept and (b) I can’t believe he came to me for help and I’ve got nothing really to offer in return.  I shared a few elementary things that I am sure made no difference whatsoever to his design and he graciously listened.  It was a little bit disheartening.  That was a little over a year ago.

God, however, had other ideas about how I should be contributing to the Designs for Hope effort; and as is always the case, his plan has been far more fulfilling than whatever simplistic plans I might have desired.  It took until this past March before my involvement with Designs for Hope became “official”. In the last seven months, I have been talking about Designs for Hope just about everywhere I go.  When I do, it never fails that someone will say, “Hey, I know someone you need to talk to!”  As a result, I have been making all kinds of connections that I never dreamed possible.  I have talked to everyone from missionaries and pastors to finance wizards and lawyers.  I’ve spoken to people directly involved in missions in two different states in India, in Uganda, in Zambia, in Nicaragua, in Peru, and in Haiti.  In addition to missions ministries that I already knew about – such as E3 Partners (www.e3partners.org) - I have learned about all kinds of ministries out there that I never knew existed,  such as TLA Ministries in India (www.tlaministries.org), African Children’s Mission in Uganda (www.africanchildrensmission.org), and Zambikes in Zambia (www.zambikes.org).

I think that sometimes here in America we get an unfortunate case of tunnel vision and forget about what God is doing all over the world.  Yes, the economy is bad.  Yes, college tuition is insanely out of control (trust me, I have two in college).  Yes, it seems like our moral standards have fallen off the proverbial cliff.  These things are all true.  However, maybe we need to take a moment to open our eyes and see the handiwork of a Sovereign and Almighty God who is still very much at work in this world and is still faithfully carrying out his plan despite our blindness and narrow vision.

Designs for Hope is very much a young organization, still struggling to get off the ground and make an impact on the world for the gospel of Jesus Christ.   Sometimes it seems we are moving too slow.  Fundraising is not an easy task.  However, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and I have no doubt in my mind that Designs for Hope is progressing at exactly the right pace that God wants in order to carry out his plan.  I am just excited to be a very small part of that.