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It was Saturday morning, 1/21/12, and we were about to hit our stride w/ "orphan time", visiting multiple orphan villages each day from this point on. Our Global Orphan leader, John Carr, shared with us 3 brief stories of 3 specific children at the Jumecourt orphanage & how they ended up there. I think John intentionally shared these stories at this point in our trip to help us pay attention & not obliviously overlook the life-changing moments we would soon be a part of with these kids. I'm grateful for his leadership, wise beyond his years.
We had already met & played with lots of the children, and knew for ourselves that these kids seemed joyful, caring, and happy to be a part of their community of orphans. They really didn't seem too much different from my own kids, aside from the absence of deodorant, glitzy recreation, and electronic entertainment. That made it unknowingly easy to overlook the fact that they are orphans...in an impoverished country.
Without knowing their stories, it kind of made it safe for us to physically & mentally be there w/ the kids...but emotionally and spiritually not really have to be invested. I didn't realize any of this until I reflected on this all when I got back home.
Click below, I read my journal'ed notes of the stories of 3 of the kids at Jumecourt, as John told us...
The hotel's rooftop deck where we sat fell quiet. I think it was all 10 of us in our group, but maybe it was just me that was hearing God's simple, gentle, loving whispers...
-"Grasp how important it is to Me that you are here physically, emotionally and spiritually.
-Now go, love these kids as I love them.
-Let Me use you to be a part of their story of knowing My love for them better.
-Go and be My physical hands for them to hold, and My arms to hug, and My legs to play futbol.
-I AM very alive here, and very real to these kids."
John finished by saying, "Global Orphan wants 'adult champions' for the kids." It was clear that this was a turning point in our trip, for me at least, from "we're just here playing w/ these kids" to "we're on a mission here w/ these kids".
Knowing these kinds of stories are the soul-scars of the kids that were climbing on us, kicking soccer balls past us, and braiding our hair...it flipped a switch inside of me that rarely gets flipped. I looked around at my 9 American friends, realizing I was right in the middle of the biggest privilege that God has ever honored me with, outside of leading my own family. This was 1Corinthians 12:27 coming to life in front of us.
Call it what you want, but it could not be clearer to me how God would use these stories to teach us that:
- us "ordinary guys" can be desperately-needed father figures to neglected & abused boys.
- God still lifts people out of the trash, cleans them up, and uses them for GREAT purposes. NOBODY is too dirty, too messed-up, or too-far-gone for God.
- God shows Himself all around us...in "coincidences" and in the world's hurts...if we'll only pay close enough attention.
I never thought of that scripture passage that way. Such a beautiful tribute to those amazing lives that you had the privilege of interacting with. I cannot wait to meet all of those people and experience God like that. You inspire me!
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