Stolen Away

OK, so I had another confession to make by the end of our first day at Ceracaif orphanage today. I told my wife that my affections have been completely and hopelessly stolen away by a 6-year-old girl named Paty who decided that I obviously needed a new best friend. Lynn took the news remarkably well, probably because her emotions had just as surely been laid claim to. We have fallen in love with all the children here - Eduardo, Carla, Jorge, Julia, Rosa, Santos... I wish I could remember all their names, but the lateness of the hour is starting to set in. The desire for affection that these kids have, coupled with an incredible resilience in the face of the trials they´ve had to go through, endears you to them like I would not have believed. Our pastor´s warning not to bring any orphans home with us was well chosen, because I want so badly to see them all placed in a home with a Christian family that can meet all their needs.

But although our feelings are important, they are not always trustworthy. God did not bring me down here to steal the children away, or even to daydream about it. He brought me down here to love them, to invest myself in them even though I know we have to leave all too soon, to provide for their physical needs as well as spiritual, and to keep them on my heart in prayer and provision when we go back to the States. God raised up a man with a vision for an orphanage in this city. That man gave up everything he owned to build the facility, and he died still giving everything for the kids he loved. His daughters, godly women who obviously know how to manage 65 children and give them the sustenance and mother-figures and discipline and education they need, are doing an incredibly good job with incredibly few resources. It is for me to support and encourage them in their work, confirming their authority and working to see their ministry flourish; and it is the deepest desire of my heart to do this.

For what they are doing is the most important thing in anyone´s life, orphan or no. Señora Theresa and her workers are teaching Paty and Eduardo and Carla and Jorge and Julia and Rosa and Santos - and all the rest of them - that they will only ever find true meaning and worth for their lives in Christ Jesus, that like the workers there Jesus truly loves them for who they are, and that in the miracle of redemption he will someday steal them away to live with him in the new heavens and the new earth, where no one will ever be orphaned or fatherless again. They are teaching the children that in Christ they are part of a family. And it is my honor to be invited into that circle with them, even for a short time.

Chicken coop construction is on tomorrow! :) Good times. Please keep us in your prayers, it´s been a wild trip so far but God has always gone before us.

Jeremy