When 100 Yards is a Million Miles.
When I turned back around, I saw a family scavenging the dump for the essentials of life. Yes, including food. For the briefest of moments, I walked in their shoes.
This past week I was in Mexico on a mission trip. Along with a group of about one hundred people, my family and I built homes for families in desperate need (see our progress here). This week, I’m sharing from AndyBondurant.com. We’ve taken this same trip multiple times beginning in 2015. This was my response to that experience.
The Bondurant family started 2016 by gaining a fresh perspective. We journeyed what seemed like 1 million miles away, but we only needed to see 100 yards across a river. Kia and I and the whole family (all 6 of us) took a trip to Reynosa, Mexico, just south of the border from McAllen, Texas, with Strategic Alliance to build a home for a family in desperate need.
It changed our collective life.
Each person in my family has a different favorite moment from the trip – riding a pony, playing with children, connecting with the family, playing soccer. Mine was standing next to the Rio Grande.
100 Yards…
The family we built for lived in a shack — a literal shack with dirt floors, no electricity or running water, no door, and a leaky, plastic roof). The shack stood only yards from the Rio Grande. We saw teens carrying a raft up and down the road – to and from the river. Along with them were groups of people…only the groups of people didn’t come back. With the current debate on immigration, I don’t have to tell you who the groups of people disappearing were.
To most of us (including political candidates), this is a polarizing image.
…1 Millions Miles
A few days later, I stood at the same spot where these teens took their boat, and I looked across to America – less than 100 yards away from where I stood in Mexico. In the weeds and trees, no different than what I was standing in, I saw hope, opportunity, and a chance for something more.
When I turned back around, I saw a family scavenging the dump for the essentials of life. Yes, including food. For the briefest of moments, I walked in their shoes, and I couldn’t start to express my sense of hopelessness.
My perspective has changed.
Sometimes 100 yards can be a million miles.
How to Change Your Perspective.
When I originally wrote this, we were in the infancy of 2016, but now we enter into the holiday season of 2023. My challenge remains the same — intentionally change your perspective. I challenge you to see life differently than you did just a few weeks ago.
Here are three practical ways to change your perspective:
Do a Word of the Year project. It’s as simple as choosing a word and digging into that word for one whole year. What can you learn and experience from that word in 2024? I promise if you stick with it, your perspective will change. If you need help, start HERE.
Get out of Dodge. In 2015, Kia and I intentionally made decisions so our family could participate in a mission/work trip. It wasn’t cheap and it wasn’t easy, but it was invaluable for all of us to have a new perspective. Now, 8 years later, I can see how that trip has shaped each person in my family.
Join my List. I’ve been inspired to do more, and I believe I’m supposed to take others along for the ride. If you think that could be you, join my email list. Just add your email to the link below. You’ll receive updates from me on my latest posts, how to help make a difference in projects like this, and more. I promise to make you think 🙂