Eric Denton can’t help all of the poor in Mexico, but he’s making a tremendous difference for the ones he does help. He and a team of 28 people from the church he pastors in Riverside, California, went on a building mission. They started with just two homes in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Mexican border town of Tijuana. One of the homes was for a family who was living under a tree—a single mom trying to raise 3 kids, working all day while the kids fended for themselves.

 

Ten years later when Eric visited the families living in those two homes, they greeted him with joy. They laughed and cried together, amazed at the way a house could change their lives. But there’s more. Eric and his volunteers have built a church, as well as a residence for 30 homeless, hopeless kids. And another building has gone up to house 36 abandoned infants, giving these tiny bundles life and love. All of that in ten years!

 

Eric asks, “What can happen in 10 years? Lives can be changed. Our lives—and the lives of those we touch.”[1]

 

Is there a project you’ve been putting off? Something you sense God wants you to do? Ten years down the road you’re going to be the same age whether you accept that challenge or just live your life in a routine way.

 

In Psalm 90 Moses wrote, “We live to be about 70. Or we may live to be 80, if we stay healthy. But…the years quickly pass, and we are gone” (verse 10). Accept the challenge of Eric’s words, “What do you plan on doing with the next decade of your life?” Your decision can make the difference between a mundane, ordinary life and one of purpose and meaning.

 

[1] Eric Denton, Siempre Update, an e-

newsletter published on the internet on March 19, 2009.