There was a wonderful story in the news recently about a seven year-old girl who wrote to the CEO of Google, asking for a job. To her parents’ astonishment, Chloe Bridgewater received a prompt reply from Sundar Pichai, who she had addressed as ‘dear Google boss’. In his letter, Mr Pichai thanked Chloe for getting in touch and encouraged her to ‘keep working hard and following [her] dreams’. This young lady’s dreams are clearly ambitious, but who’s to say she won’t achieve them?

Gina’s (L) life has been changed dramatically, thanks to EPED
Young people do tend to dream big. The reports we receive from our project partners reflect this, time and time again. Rosie grew up in poverty with no father and an HIV-positive mother, but she aims to become a professor. Seventeen-year-old Harry relies on a wheelchair to get around and lives in a culture which marginalises disabled people, but he is on the way to becoming a journalist. And Gina, despite have spent time living on the streets of Kinshasa, is back in school and planning to become a magistrate.
Our partners encourage the young people they serve to aim high, and so does the Bible. In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul urges his son in the faith, ‘Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.’ And in Jeremiah 1, God speaks to the young prophet, calling him to a role so weighty and significant that Jeremiah initially struggles to take it in. With our God, young people can and do achieve extraordinary things.
So let’s encourage young people to dream big, as our partners do and as God does. Let’s ask God to enlarge our vision for children and help us see their full potential. Let’s make our churches and communities places where children are secure and free to reach for their dreams. Who knows? You might be investing in a future church leader, magistrate or CEO of Google.
Would you like to invest financially in helping a child achieve his or her dreams? If so, click here to find out how you can do that.