In my travels in Africa, India, and Bangladesh, I’m met a lot of people making profound sacrifices for their passion, values, and beliefs.  Elizabeth was one of those people.

Though I never met the people in this photo, I know that they made sacrifices too.  We were staying in a pepto bismol pink staff housing complex in Northern Ethiopia. It was the Ethiopian Christmas season, so most of the staff had gone to spend the season with their families – probably 800 miles away in Addis Ababa.

I don’t know whether the tiny sparse bedroom I stayed in belonged to the husband or wife in this picture, but I know that it was only one of them and I know that whoever it was had made a major sacrifice to live and work in this remote site. Working in a village with the poorest of the poor, helping them plant gardens, build roads, grow trees, and protect the hillsides from erosion, this life was probably a far cry from what they dreamed of the day they married their sweetheart.

But something drew them here. Was it a passion to make a difference? A deep compassion for the poor? A commitment to following their heart? A faith-related calling? A sense that this was what they were meant for?

In our comfortable, affluent lives, we don’t have to make a lot of sacrifices. We have the luxury of dabbling in our interests and hobbies, trying our callings on for size, testing the waters of our passion – all within the comfort of our weather-proof homes.

What if it were harder? What if we had to make sacrifices? Would we still be willing?

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