by Nick Vujicic
So you are probably wondering, where did I find inspiration in this bleak landscape?
Everywhere we went!
You see, the poverty and neglect we encountered are remnants of Liberia’s haunted past—a dark period dominated by decadent dictators and bloodthirsty warlords. During our visit we also saw Liberia’s future, which holds much hope.
For three decades few aid organizations, missionaries, or charitable groups dared to enter Liberia because of the hostile environment. But since 2005 that has changed dramatically. Billions of dollars are now pouring into Liberia, with the United States alone contributing more than $230 million a year to the rebuilding effort.
Our lodging host during my 2008 visit was one of the many charitable groups that have joined the international effort to help Liberia recover and rebuild. We stayed aboard the Africa Mercy, which is part of the Mercy Ships ministry. The ship itself is a former rail ferry that is now a love boat of another sort: a five-hundred-foot floating hospital operated by a Christian charity and staffed by a caring crew of more than four hundred volunteer surgeons, nurses, doctors, dentists, ophthalmologists, physical therapists, and other health-care professionals hailing from forty nations.
All those medical teams serving on the Africa Mercy donate their time and services, and most pay their own way to join its missions around the world. Liberia lost 95 percent of its medical centers during its civil war. While I was there, the state-of-the-art facilities onboard this amazing ship were some of the most modern in the world. On some days thousands lined up to come aboard and find help.
Africa Mercy is the largest hospital vessel in the fleet of this global charity. The Mercy Ships mission is to follow the two-thousand-year-old model of Jesus, bringing hope and healing to the world’s forgotten poor by loving and serving others. In my talk to the four hundred volunteers aboard this incredible ship, I expressed my admiration for the great gift of their talents and skills to serve some of God’s most needy people. The ship’s volunteers give at least two weeks of their time, but some serve for many years. They actually pay for their room and board on the ship. That’s amazing considering that these medical professionals are donating their only free time from their high-stress jobs back home.
I toured the ship and visited some of its six operating rooms, where patients were being treated for gangrene, cataracts, cleft lips, burns, tumors, broken limbs, childbirth trauma, and many other problems. Later, I learned that during the Africa Mercy’s stay in Liberia over the course of four years, the volunteer medical crew performed more than 71,800 specialized surgeries and 37,700 dental procedures.
The free medical care provided to the thousands of patients by the volunteers onboard the Africa Mercy is a wonderful example of sowing good seeds by putting faith into action in service to others. When I returned home, I raved about the volunteers so much to my sister, Michelle, who like our mum is a nurse, that she signed on for a tour with them!
Like me, my sister believes that we should all plant good seeds to grow strong trees that bear fruit for many years, creating more good seeds and more fruit-bearing trees in the process. Michelle and I may never see any of the fruit created by what we do during our time on this earth, but that’s okay. Our job is to plant as many good seeds as we can, knowing that God will determine what grows and what doesn’t grow. I encourage you to sow as many seeds of love, encouragement, inspiration, and kindness as you can.
The important thing with both love and faith is to act on them. Put them out there, where they can contribute to the greater good. It’s a choice you can make every morning. Decide that you are going to use your God-given talents and abilities to serve a larger purpose. Each of us has talents of some sort, and we all have influence with friends and family and business networks that allow us to magnify our gifts by involving others so that they plant their seeds too.
We are here to follow the example of Jesus. The Son of God gave us His all, and we should give to God all that we have by serving His children with our love, just as we love Him. That’s what Jesus did. He loved and served all of us even though He was the King, the Son of God. The great thing about planting good seeds is that God nurtures them as He sees fit, so sometimes the most humble seed can grow into something as large as a 16,572-ton floating hospital that has a positive impact on thousands and thousands of lives.
The Mercy Ships were envisioned and created by a Christian couple who acted upon their faith to sow good seeds and have served others in incredible ways. Living in Switzerland when they founded Mercy Ships, Don and Deyon Stephens have been recognized around the world for their humanitarian work, which provides the best in modern medical care to the poorest people of the developing world. Don holds a theology degree, and Deyon is a registered nurse. They were inspired to refit their first mercy ship in 1978 after their son John Paul was born with severe learning disabilities. Later, Don was on a trip to India and met Mother Teresa, who encouraged the couple to join her in serving the world’s neediest people. “John Paul will help you to become the eyes and ears and limbs for many others,” she told them.
The Stephens were not wealthy, but they were so inspired by Mother Teresa’s encouragement that they convinced a Swiss bank to loan them a million dollars to buy their first ship, a retired Italian cruise liner. Since then their charity has found support from donors around the world, including Starbucks, which put one of its shops aboard the ship to supply free coffee so the medical teams would have plenty of caffeine to keep their energy up. (Remember, what we can’t do, God—and caffeine can!)
So there you have it, the first major source of inspiration I found in Liberia: a huge Danish ferry transformed into a ship of mercy by hundreds of wonderful volunteers, and a Christian couple who were inspired to serve others by the world’s greatest example of servant leadership at that time, Mother Teresa. Through her selfless work among the poor in Calcutta and the missions she established in 123 countries, this humble woman inspired millions of people like the Stephens to sow their good seeds around the world.
You may ask, “What can I do?” or “What do I have to give?” The answer is, “Yourself.” You and your God-given talents are the greatest gifts you can give. When you put faith into action to sow good seeds by serving others, you tap into a power beyond anything you can imagine. Just look at the lives saved and transformed by the Stephens and their mercy ships, or Mother Teresa and the more than six hundred missions she established around the world.
SERVING A NATION
The second major source of inspiration I found in Liberia was a woman like Mother Teresa, a servant leader and Christian of incredible influence. You may be surprised to learn that she was a politician in a country infamous for corrupt leaders. I was wary at first, but like other people around the world, I quickly discovered that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was not at all like those tyrants and warlords who preceded her in Liberia.
In 2005 this Harvard-educated Christian known as “Ma Ellen” became this shattered nation’s first woman president after having been imprisoned twice by a predecessor. At that time she was also the only woman serving as president on the African continent. Her election was hailed as a major move forward for a nation that had been plunging backward at a stunning rate. Former US first lady Laura Bush and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice attended her inauguration.
The new president had a tough job. She might have hoped to curb corruption and create jobs to put back to work the 85 percent of the population that was unemployed, but first she had to turn on the lights. After years of war, even the capital of Monrovia had no electricity, running water, or functional sewage system.
The daughter of the first native Liberian to be elected to the national legislature, President Sirleaf was well schooled in her country’s cutthroat political system. She had accepted her scholarship to Harvard Kennedy School of Government in part to escape imprisonment for criticizing her country’s corrupt leadership. When she returned home, she was imprisoned on two occasions for her
continuing opposition. At other times she had to flee the country for as long as five years, working as an international banker during her exile.
The end of the bloody reign of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor began when thousands of Liberian women dressed in white, led by Sirleaf and the courageous activist Leymah Gbowee, gathered in a field in Monrovia and demanded peace. They stayed for months, through the torrid summer and rainy seasons, holding press conferences and bringing international attention to the human rights abuses of Taylor’s regime. At one point the women protestors convened outside a hotel where Taylor’s warlords were meeting and prevented them from leaving. Taylor finally fled the country. He was arrested and tried as a war criminal by the United Nations. In 2005 Sirleaf was elected to restore peace and sanity to her country.
When I met her three years later, Liberia was still struggling to recover from the decades of neglect and violence. For the first time in all those years, the Liberian people were no longer being victimized and persecuted by their government. The United Nations was helping to ensure the peace with a force of more than fifteen thousand troops.
During our twenty-five-minute talk in her office, I found President Sirleaf to be an impressive blend of strength and caring. There is a reason that she is also known both as “the Mother of Liberia” and “the Iron Lady.” I was very nervous to meet her because I’d never before had a face-to-face meeting with the leader of a nation.
President Sirleaf welcomed me just days before her seventieth birthday, and her grandmotherly presence and the warmth in her kind eyes put me at ease right away. She also shared that she was among the 60 percent of Liberians who are Christians. She grew up a Methodist, and her early education was in Methodist schools. We spoke of faith, and I could see that much of her inner strength is rooted in her religious beliefs.
If I were ever to serve as any nation’s president, I’d like to be like her. She is a woman of God who believes in a philosophy I’d characterize as “Ask not what God can do for your country, but rather ask God what this nation can do for Him.” What greater thing can a nation do than serve as an example of people trusting in God and handing Him their broken pieces to reassemble and repair. I believe this nation can serve as an example of the miracles God can do if its people abide in Him and His promises.
Since I was in President Sirleaf’s country to speak to several groups, she asked that I encourage these Liberians to educate their children and also to return to growing their own food crops, especially rice, because the civil war had disrupted farming so much that the vast majority of rice consumed in the nation was imported. She impressed me with her powerful sense of mission to serve her 3.5 million people and to rebuild her ravaged country. Since she has taken office, Liberia has welcomed assistance from other countries and opened its doors to $16 billion in foreign business investments. On a personal level she seems very caring and attentive to others. In our case, before receiving us and welcoming us, she loaned us two SUVs so we could travel the rugged roads.
I don’t have to make a case for President Sirleaf as an inspiring example of servant leadership at a high level. She’s received one of the highest honors in the world for the seeds she’s sown. Just a few years after we met, she and Leymah Gbowee were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their peace-building and human rights work. Four days after receiving that prestigious award, President Sirleaf won reelection for another six-year term so she can sow even more good seeds.
Sirleaf, who was also named the United Methodist of the Year in 2011, is recognized around the world as a benevolent, democratic leader—even as her predecessor, Charles Taylor, is being tried for horrible crimes against his people. Both of these people were in positions of leadership. Both were granted great authority because of those positions. Yet they wielded that power in vastly different ways.
One of the first Christian evangelists, the apostle Paul, discussed these two different types of leadership in the Bible, and the passage (Galatians 5:13–15) is particularly pertinent to a country created and run by former slaves and their descendants. He said, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!” Paul was telling us that we should use our freedom and our power not to satisfy our own selfish needs and desires—or to fill our own pockets as Taylor did—but to love and serve one another as President Sirleaf is doing.
You don’t have to be the president of a nation to serve others. You don’t even need arms and legs. All you need is to put your faith, your talents, your education, your knowledge, and your skills out there to benefit others in ways big and small. Even the tiniest acts of kindness can have a ripple effect. Even people who think they have no power to impact the world around them can make a huge difference by joining forces and working together to become the change they desire.
SEEDS SOWN
President Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, and their army of women activists changed a nation by putting their faith into action to serve their people. They have helped to restore peace, and they are leading their country’s difficult restoration after decades of strife. Just recently, Sirleaf put more than twenty-five thousand young people to work cleaning up their communities before the holidays and paid them so that they would have money for Christmas. Her administration has been busy building new health-care clinics and restoring water service to seven hundred thousand residents. Her major accomplishments so far also include the opening of more than two hundred twenty schools—a wonderful example of planting seeds that will grow and bear fruit for generations to come.
I was a witness to another sort of seed planted by the peaceful revolution led by Liberian Christians. This one is very close to my heart. My mission to Liberia included an evangelical revival meeting at a soccer stadium. We had expected maybe three hundred to four hundred people to attend, but to our joy an estimated eight to ten thousand came. People were literally sitting on rooftops and climbing trees to get a view into the packed stadium. Strangely enough, I had to give the same talk three times that day, because we only had one relatively small speaker box on the stage. So I had to aim it at one section of the stadium, giving abbreviated versions of my talk, and then redirect it at another section and give it again. I did that so everyone could hear my words of encouragement, hope, and faith!
That brings me to the third inspirational source I found in Liberia: the people themselves. Despite the death, destruction, cruelty, and incredible hardships they endured, millions of Christians in this nation have stayed in the faith. Even with many still suffering, I saw countless expressions of joy during our visit—from schoolchildren singing and playing, to stadiums filled with people praising God. Our friends in Liberia told us that Christians and Muslim leaders put aside their differences to help bring an end to the civil war through an interreligious council, and I am hopeful they can continue to work together for the greater good of their nation and its children.
I think I surprised my audience that day when I announced to them that I do not need arms or legs. After the murmurs over that remark quieted, I told them that what I really need is Jesus Christ. The point I wanted to make to these people who have endured so much oppression and cruelty is that, with God in our hearts, we are complete even when we would appear to lack many other things. I also assured them that while their lives on this earth have been extremely difficult, if they have faith and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they will be guaranteed happiness in eternity. I also noted that even those who have everything on earth—including arms and legs—will take nothing to their graves but their souls.
I told them that they must have salvation in order to have hope. “Hope can only be found in God,” I said. “I may not have arms and legs, but I fly on the wings of the Holy Spirit.”
Then, I reminded my Liberian
friends that God is still in control of their situations; therefore they must not give up but keep the hope alive. I told them that if God can use a man with no arms or legs to be His hands and feet, then He will also use war-torn Liberia for His purposes as well.
I reminded them that while we may not always receive the miracles we pray for, that does not stop us from serving as a miracle for someone else. Shortly after I said that, my words became a reality in front of thousands of people. As I neared the end of my speech, a Liberian woman came toward me with a fierce determination, working her way through the tightly packed crowd of people standing side by side.
Several times, security guards stopped her, but she quietly assured them that she intended no harm. As she drew nearer, I saw why they let her go. She was carrying an infant, just three weeks old. The child had no arms but did have tiny fingers emerging from her shoulders. I had the mother bring her child to me so I could kiss her on the forehead and pray for her.
My thoughts were only of showing love for this child, so I was startled when many people in the audience gasped and cried out when I kissed the baby. In the moment I thought it was simply because they were shocked to see a child with disabilities so similar to mine. Later, I was told that the Liberians were stunned to see a limbless child who’d been allowed to remain alive. In many villages children born with physical disabilities are killed. Some are even buried alive.
It was my turn to be horrified when my hosts informed me that children with disabilities in rural Africa were considered a curse. Normally, the child would be killed or abandoned to die, and the mother would be ostracized for fear that the curse on her would spread to her community. In the case of this child, the mother told us that she had fled with the child before anyone could take her away.