Richard Stearns - He Walks Among Us: Encounters with Christ in a Broken World

A cross sits atop a hill overlooking a World Vision irrigation project in Morulem, Kenya, that has transformed the Turkana desert into rich farmland.

2013 by World Vision, Inc.

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Cover image: Children walk several miles to their village in northern Ghana after collecting water from a crocodile-infested pond.

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I Hope You Dance

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I Hope You Dance

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To all the men and women, boys and girls, who have trusted us to tell their stories to the world, the ones Jesus called blessed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In a very real sense, we are merely eyewitnesses to the incredible stories contained herein. The scores of people featured in this book invited us into their homes and into their lives, sharing their most intimate stories with us, believing that their stories counted for something and that others might benefit from hearing them. So before anyone else we must first acknowledge these courageous men, women, and children. As you might imagine, just finding stories like these across the world is no easy feat. Had it not been for the thousands of World Vision staff who spend their lives on behalf of the people they serve, we might never have been introduced to those described in these pages. Capturing the narratives required a bucket brigade of collaborators: World Visions national communications teams, the project workers who daily offer their helping hands, the drivers who took us up mountains and across rivers, and the national staff who planned every aspect of our visits in hope that the telling of these stories might motivate people across the world to care and to get involved.

They had much to teach us about living, loving, overcoming, and celebrating. Rich and Rene Stearns

It also takes a village to prepare a book like this for publication. Lee Hough, our agent, helped us craft our original proposal. The aesthetics of the layout and interior design were achieved by Paul Nielsen from Faceout Studio. At Thomas Nelson, our publishing house, Laura Minchew and Lisa Stilwell helped us shape the look and feel of the book. Jack Countryman gave us the first inspiration to actually attempt a kind of photojournalistic approach to the storytelling.

Inside of World Visions Seattle office, it took many hands to attend to all of the details. Ashley Day compiled binders filled with hundreds of photos to select from and helped with the captioning. Kari Costanza was our frequent traveling companion and was indispensable in helping find just the right people and stories for us to capture. Milana McLead kept us all focused on the big picture with valuable strategic input. Rob Moll coordinated the editing and proofreading process. And many more have their fingerprints on these pages: Elizabeth Hendley, Jane Sutton-Redner, Denise Koenig, Brian Sytsma, David Shaw, Phil Manzano, Andrea Peer, Laura Reinhardt, Abby Stalsbroten, and Lindsey Minerva.

We are also grateful to family and friends who willingly read our early drafts and who gave us encouragement to plow ahead in this endeavor.

Finally, we are grateful to our God who opened our eyes to see the beauty in the lives of His beloved poor, fearfully and wonderfully made in his image.

RICH AND RENE STEARNS WITH JON WARREN

In our years with World Vision, we have logged more than two million air miles traveling to the uttermost parts of the globe. Weve been to the heights of the Andes Mountains; navigated rivers like the Zambezi, Mekong, and Rio Negro; traveled across the Rift Valley of Ethiopia and through the jungles of Mozambique; and rambled around the edges of the Gobi and Sahara deserts. But unlike tourists who might travel to these same places just to see the sights and sample the cuisines, we went to meet the people who lived there. We went to listen, to learn, and to offer our hand of friendship. We have been privileged to break bread with these new friends, to hear their incredible stories, and to laugh, cry, and celebrate with them. And when we left, we carried their stories in our hearts.

There is a misunderstanding we often have about the poorbelieving that we who have so much are the ones in the position to offer help to those who have so little. But what we have discovered on so many of our trips is that we were the ones who were poor and they were the ones who were rich: rich in wisdom, community, perseverance, courage, faith, and even joy. They had much to teach us about living, loving, overcoming, and celebrating. They had much to teach us about dependence on God.