As I read things on twitter, or hear stories of people going to India, some tribe in Africa that has no bible, some place in China, or some far away place people are going to areas where no one has heard the name of Jesus I feel like I am not doing enough.
Let me explain. I am in Honduras, in a pretty cushy 3rd world situation. I have american flushing toilets, water that´s drinkable out of the faucet, and power most of the time. I talk to kids about Jesus a lot, go to church 2x a week and am surrounded with talk about God with Us-Emmanuel. From time to time we get kids who haven´t been to church, some of my teens dont really want to go to church here, but most all know about Jesus. And I can´t help but think maybe I should be somewhere more difficult, trying to tell people about Jesus who know nothing of him.
Then I read an article like this. Street Kids
And I think about an encounter I had last summer.
I was standing in the airport like I do about once a week. Waiting for an hour or more for the team members to come out of baggage claim and customs. A boy probably 12-13 and just about 4 inches shorter than me comes up to me.
He says (in spanish) "Hi. How are you?"
Me- "I´m good, how are you?"
I´m good. My name is Carlos and I live on the streets and my life is very hard.
I´m sorry Carlos. Why do you live on the streets? (I´ve noticed his eyes are just jumping all over the place)
I do drugs. (He shows me his hands all covered in scabs and glue, and in the scabs and glue is dirt and sand).
I tell him I am sorry that his life is hard and he lives on the street.
He tells me "Do you know Jesus?" me- Yes I do.
He then tells me that Jesus is the only reason he is alive and it makes it better. Then he looks down and sees something sticking out of my cargo shorts pocket. "Is that cookies?" No, its peanuts. Do you want them? His eyes get big and he says "Can I have them?" Yes. As I pull them out of my shorts he holds up a small plastic bag with some limperas (honduran money) and a clif bar (an American evidently found him before me). I have to drop it down into his bag because he won´t even take it from me. He tells me thank you and takes off.
I think he left in a hurry because he knew he would be asked to leave if he stayed too long. In my bad spanish I said "Good luck!" I had suddenly forgotten how to say God bless you.
As I stood in the lobby waiting it just suddenly hit me. Carlos (I couldn´t remember his name later so I named him in my heart Carlos) is or could be one of our kids at Emmanuel. And it was all I could do not to cry in the lobby. It just broke my heart and I prayed for the Father to watch over Him.
From time to time at the end of orientation I tell this story to teams that come. Not to make them feel sorry for the kids at Emmanuel, but to have them understand that some of our kids have been like Carlos, on the street, hooked on drugs, with no one to care for them. Some willingly have gone into the streets because they think it is better, some have been put on the streets, some the parents just do not care for them, can´t afford them, so they end up making poor choices because they know little else to do. And we have kids that come to us- from the police, from family services, from other centers. We have the opportunity to care for these kids. To teach them about true Hope- salvation in Christ, a Father that cares and loves them like no other.
Our time with these kids is short. Sometimes it is just a few years, sometimes it is 15 years. But I am often desperate to know how to talk to them, to teach them, to show them the greatest need and desire in their heart is for love…that only our heavenly Father can fill in Christ´s salvation. To know how to get them to hear this in their hearts and believe it. To live in it in such a way it changes them for life. That when they walk out the gate their difficult life will be somehow a little better because they know the Father is for them and with them no matter where they go. The Holy Spirit is their guide and comfort. The trinity doesn´t fail.
It´s in these thoughts that I know I am where I am supposed to be. Caring for kids that cannot be cared for by others. Some orphans, some kids under protection from those who seek to harm them, some kids who just can´t be afforded by their families, some who have a new man or woman in their home who doesn´t "want someone elses kids". My heart is here to love them, be frustrated by them, to teach them, to hopefully point them and grown them up in the Cross.
I´m grateful for teams that come to help us do that. Invest in kids for eternity with the truth of God´s word and His love. I´m grateful for people who pray for me regularly-it is only because of Him that the weight of this work doesn´t crush me. It is only because of Him I begin to know what to do day to day. I´m grateful for those of you who send financial gifts. If the money stops, I have to leave. And I am not ready for that.
Please keep praying. Please keep sending money. Please keep the kids of Emmanuel and the streets of Honduras in your prayers.
Be His.
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