“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 1st Corinthian 1:3-4
Born June 26, 1949 to missionary parents, Wess Stafford grew up in a village in Northeast Ivory Coast where he adored the life of a missionary kid in the jungles of Africa. He spent his days playing with the other village children, learning to hunt, protecting the village crops from baboon with slingshots, and traveling with his dad to other remote villages to share the gospel. The adventure and service to the poor in Jesus’ name captured young Wess’ heart. While Wess loved his experience in the African village, he also came face to face with the brutality of poverty.
Additionally, from the ages of 6-10, Wess attended a missionary boarding school for 9 months of the year. The school was 750 miles from his parents and not only did little Wess have to endure the ache in his heart to be with his parents and his village family, but he also lived through the horror of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of the couple who ran the missionary school. He shares the details of his journey in his book Too Small to Ignore.
In 1977, Wess began a career with Compassion International, a child sponsorship organization that has supported millions of children since its inception in 1956. Out of the tragedy of his own childhood trauma, God birthed within Wess a desire to help the children of the world trapped in the ravages of poverty. Eventually serving 30 years as the President and CEO of Compassion, there possibly has not been a greater friend to the children of the world in Jesus’ name.
What suffering have you undergone that God has brought you through? How can you then, as our text implores, use that comfort to comfort others?