The following is a blog written by one of my dearest friends and mentors.  I love this man. I believe if you knew him like I do, you would too.  He lives in Texas.  You have probably heard it said that everything is bigger in Texas.  I agree because Milton Jones lives there.  His desire for the marginalized of this world to know the redemptive and restorative love of Jesus is bigger than any one I have ever known.  Milt is the President and CEO of an amazing compassion relief organization called Christian Relief Fund (CRF).

CRF is different from other compassion relief organizations.  With CRF you can personally touch the life of the child or family you sponsor.  You can sponsor a school or even contribute to the building a medical clinic.  And if by chance you want to one day visit your child, family, school or clinic and see exactly what kind of shape they are in, guess what?  You can.  In many ways, that is how Milt began his ministry with CRF.  Years ago, he paid a visit to some children in Africa who were orphaned because of AIDS.  It has wrecked his soul ever since.  People who meet Milt and his wife Barbie often ask me why they continue to give their lives away for the ones Jesus called, “the least of these.”  I usually offer, two reasons.  One, they saw what real poverty and hopelessness looks like all over the world.  And two, it is exactly what their Savior did.

You can join Milt on his journey at miltonjonesblog.com.  I hope you enjoy Milt’s post.  May it offer you good news in a bad news oriented kind of world.

Rhinos and giraffes. It’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard. It makes sense that they would be in Africa, but you will never guess where.

Sudan is one of the poorest places in the world. They have been in the midst of a civil war. Part of the country is trying to commit genocide against the other. They are divided religiously with all kinds of hostility. Famines are all over the place. Child slavery has been rampant. What’s the solution? Shape their towns so they look like animals from the air.

Seriously. Sudan is making plans to reshape cities where they look like animals when you fly over them. The southern government’s own 2010 budget was only $1.9 billion, and the U.N. says more than 90 percent of Southern Sudan’s population lives on less than $1 a day. And this animal project is going to cost a whopping $10 billion dollars. Why would they be doing this?

I don’t know for sure. But here’s my thought—they want to be noticed. It is like a little kid doing all kinds of things for attention. Why? So she can be seen. Everyone wants to be seen. And by the way, where is this? Southern Sudan is the very place Joseph Konye and the Lord’s Resistance Army have been terrorizing people creating what the world has called “Invisible Children.”

All of us when we are marginalized and invisible do things to be seen. It is a part of human nature. If you want to solve the problem of Sudan—it will take more than food, money, and a cessation of war. Because even if you can create peace and produce a better economy, people want to be noticed. People want to be seen. And deeper than that—people want to be loved.

When Hagar was fleeing Abraham and Sarah thinking there was no hope or future for her and her son, one of God’s greatest names was revealed to her, El Roi. It means “the God who sees.” It is one of God’s greatest names and attributes. He sees you. You don’t have to reshape yourself. You don’t even have to change. He sees you even in your present shape. With God, there are no invisible people. It is so true He wears it as His name