I wrote a blog about the orphanage we went to the first day we were here in Gautemala… We’ve been able to continue spending time with the kids, laughing with them, sitting with them, tickling them, teaching them to swim, playing in the pool with them, colouring and painting with them, sharing food with them…
Their situation is heart breaking…
Four of 7 of these children have disabilities, they need care and attention and they barely receive food let alone the care they need.
Today I will get to take these sweet ones out for one last lunch… Today Elsa, a sweet little young lady with downs syndrome will grace me with her hugs and little kisses on my cheek.
Today I will leave to go back to our little apartment here… tomorrow I will leave Puerto Barrios… and shortly return to home. And these children… I have no idea. I can hope for their tomorrow. But it looks incredibly bleak. These children have been ordered to leave what they know as their home, dark and insufficient as it may be. They have been ordered to return to their families… what families? I’m not sure.
They have no one who calls them their own and pretty much no one wants to step up to take care of these children. There is not the social services we know of to protect them from the streets.
A Father to the Fatherless, a defender of the weak… (psalms 68:5) This is my God. This is my hope.
I believe the honoured guests of the great banquet feast that the Lord invites us to will be filled with redeemed children of honour such as these. I believe although they are neglected and live lives lacking dignity and honour they will receive great crowns of honour and glory when they meet their King.
James 1:27 says that the religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is to look after the orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself polluted from the world.
The religion that God loves is not about the huge beautiful church that looks over these children’s home, it’s not filling the pews, it’s not having great ministries and programs, even singing nice songs.
I am thoroughly challenged by these lives. It would be so easy to count this as another month and another set of stories that are a result of corruption and the huge problems infecting this world.
Do I believe their broken lives are destined to be marked with victory and love instead neglect, scars, and unreached potential. what If I have the chance of bringing them some glory and honour now… How intolerable is this injustice to me?
If you would like more information about these children and their situation, and if you are willing to do something to bring safety and victory to these children, please let me know. We are working on solutions.
Philip Yancey wrote this prayer that I am praying.
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your hearts.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression & exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, & peace.
May God bless you with tears shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world.
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
Amen.
Check out my team mate, Rose’s blog to read her account of her experience: ashleyrose.theworldrace.org.
Check out my teammate Rose’s blog for her account of her experience:
