You listen delighted to an enthusiastic rendition of Frozen through charades and broken English, laughing every time Happy Snowman's carrot nose ends up on the side of his face. You show pictures of your not good chubby dog when she tells you of the not good big brown dog she feeds and the good little white dog that licks her face. You pantomime that time you screamed like a little girl when a snake fell on your head opening the shed door; to get a smile and relate to her snake story. You tell her how your ten year old hate crutches too, but that your friend with a prosthetic leg can balance just fine now and is getting married in a week. Finally, you have a staring contest, pretending to be a plastic owl, because that is what she wants to do. Then, you go home and you cry and you pray; broken-hearted for those who are lost and lonely and overwhelmed by God's grace for the ones he saves.This week, we had an optional evening class at training. For the past three weeks, we've learned techniques and strategies, powerful methods for contextualizing the Gospel and practical tips for navigating culture. We are being prepared to hit the ground running, plant churches, and be used by God to bring many into his Kingdom. But this class was different.
We expected ground-level ideas about ministering to street kids, how-tos on navigating corrupt officials in the juvenile justice system, and programs and schedules for properly rehabilitating and releasing those changed and healed back into society. Instead, we got real life.
We heard an honest conversation from a missionary who is tired, but hopeful. She began by saying "I don't have any answers." So, I put down my pen and opened my heart. "It's hard, it's taxing, and we only have a couple of 'success' stories to tell," she said through a slight smile, but with a spark of life and light in her eyes. They run a ranch for unwed teen mothers and other children who live on the streets or can't take the abuses of the orphanages or youth homes any longer. "Some days, we spend our time just trying to keep the little ones safe from the big ones," she confessed, as she told us about teaching kids how to eat a family meal, wash themselves, and pray. She told about trouble with visas, refusals to pay bribes, kids who show up just to fill their bellies, fights over coloring books, and a new pair of boots in a cold gray winter. Abused and broken, neglected and forgotten, in her home, these children were welcomed and loved, greeted with hugs and songs. (www.J127Ranch.org)
I learned this week that I think in words; but as she spoke, pictures ran through my mind. I saw our Joe. I saw the faces of Esmeralda, of Juanito, and of our other LightShine kids. I saw a Filipino baby I held while her 17 year old prostitute mom sat by my side. I saw dirty, crusty faces, smiling up, fascinated at the weird white guy and rubbing his oddly hairy arms. I tried to pray for the missionary at the end of her talk, but the words were choked and much slower to come than the tears that pooled in my eyes.
When we think about what it will be like in Manila, our minds fill with visions of house churches in squatter communities, people transformed with hands raised high in worship to Jesus. We picture street kids graduating from school, starting jobs and families, thankful to have heard about the one who saves and changes. These are good and true outcomes wrought by the power of the Gospel and God's Holy Spirit. But, it is his work and we can't know what will happen. Though goals are good and we are to strive for success, God calls us merely to be faithful, the fruit provided by Him.
God has prepared us through his Word for the victory found in Christ. We look forward to the "great multitude, that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!" (Rev 7:9) We live in a time of the already where we know that Jesus came to save and completed his work on the cross. We also live in the time of the not yet, where because of our sin, there are still tears and hurts, and street kids. Jesus will return to redeem all things to himself, but in the mean time, right now, we need to love through the hurt.
God has put the fatherless in our family's path and prepared us to love them through the Gospel. Jesus lived a perfect life amongst sinful men, despised and rejected, paying the penalty of sin for those who hated him. The Father turned his back on the Son, guilt and shame piled on him, that God's wrath might be satisfied and we might be free. The Gospel does not stop there though. Our guilt is removed, we have been given the righteousness of Christ; and then our shame is covered and we can take our place as children of God, co-heirs with Christ.
"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. . . . If any one loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." (John 14:18-23)
We cannot adopt all of the orphans in Manila. We cannot bring them all into our home. But we can tell many about the God who brings his children into his family through Jesus. We can pray and love and we can tell of the forever family that God promises to those who believe.I pray that you know the freedom that comes in being a child of God, free from the penalty and power of sin because of the perfect work of Jesus. Praise God for the work that he has done and the work that he continues. Please pray for the lost, the poor, and the fatherless. Pray for us as we look forward to having our hearts broken. Let your hearts be broken with ours.
"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." (Galatians 4:4-7)
May God Bless you as you go about his work.
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