Philanthropy vs Charity

The pictures used in this post are from our Casa Bernabe team’s camp. 
October 28th, 2016
Driving in a van from the airport in Guatemala City to Antigua yesterday, meeting our team members, taking in the scenery and dipping in and out of different conversations happening in the van, my mind drifted for a bit and fixated on the word Philanthropy. 
First let me give a little back story of why. Christopheraaron and I are the only “mission trip” virgins on our trip, (well maybe one or two other fellows but I don’t know everyone’s backstory yet).  Anyway, most of these ladies have shed their Americanized way of living, thinking and being to uproot/shift the lives of their families and friends to live some full time indefinitely or some part time traveling back and forth.  Many times when I hear the term philanthropist I think of the most recent celebrity to receive this award or accolade, but really those acts of the worlds wealthiest, as gracious as they may be, should really be called charity. This description below is taken from Webster’s dictionary of the word: Philanthropy.…Philanthropy has distinguishing features from charity; not all charity is philanthropy, or vice versa, though there is a recognized degree of overlap in practice. A difference commonly cited is that charity aims to relieve the pain of a particular social problem, whereas philanthropy attempts to address the root cause of the problem—the difference between the proverbial gift of a fish to a hungry person, versus teaching them how to fish.
So in my reflection a true philanthropist is really a teacher right? When you think of your favorite teacher, what are some components you think of? When I think of what makes a good teacher, I think of Relationship, and the only way to build relationship is to invest time.  So to those that have altered their lives in anyway, shape or form to be the hands and feet of Jesus, my heart overflows with awe, gratitude and appreciation.
Matthew 4:19-20 “Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.