Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by

 I don’t even know the names or stories of so many of the kids I have met this month.  With the language barrier and few translators, it is hard to do anything more than play games or share a few Bible stories . A few days ago though, at the AIDS orphanage, the nurse ran into the room, handed me a little baby boy, and explained that his name meant “Strong One.”    In Vietnamese culture one’s name is important. Nearly everyone can tell you the meaning or some significance of their name. 
 
    
 
As the nurse continued to tell me this boys story, I learned His mom had died a few weeks prior and he hadn’t been in the orphanage long.  After our conversation, it made me wonder the names and stories of all the kids in the room. Still however, all I could  think about was “strong one” and the irony of it all.  A weak little AIDS baby, orphaned just weeks ago, whose mom’s hope for him was to be “Strong”! 

I sat there holding him a bit longer and began to pray.  I prayed for the person he would become and what God was going to do in and through his life.  A verse came to mind, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:9-11)

My hope and prayer is that “Christ power” will “rest” on this child’s life, and I believe  he will grow up to be a strong man of God.  Mark 11:23-24 says, I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain go throw yourself in the heart of the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes what he says will happen, it will be done for him  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have recieved it, and it will be yours.”   Being truly strong and strong in the Lord I believe and trust God this little one will live out the meaning of his name!