After spending a few days in Manila to recover from jet lag, my new Team and I flew to Cagayan De Oro (CDO) on the island of Minandao in the Philippines where we spent a week at a ministry called Street Light. It's an up and coming ministry that reaches out to kids who live on the streets. Eventually, they want to provide meals, shelter, and education for these kids. Right now, they can only focus on ten kids since it is such a new ministry.
Our Ministry Contacts, Natalie, Leah, and Meagan, said that the kids hardly ever come around the ministry base and that they usually have to go looking for them in the city square. However, during our first day there, a handful of the kids showed up during our orientation! Since it was something that doesn't happen very often, we took advantage of the situation by playing games and singing songs with them! Then, we took them with us to tour the city and to hang out in the square.
After hanging out in the square for awhile, we decided to head back to the base. As we were walking, a boy came up to me and put his arms up like he wanted me to pick him up. So, I did. I carried him all the way back to the base. Once he figured out that he couldn't stay at the base with us because we had other work to do, he started to cry.
The little boy's name is JR. He is five or six making him the youngest of the ten. Ever since that day, he was my buddy while I was in CDO.
One morning, my Team decided that we were going to pray over the city square since that is where a lot of the kids hang out. During our walk there, we noticed a cart on the side of the ride. A blue tarp stretched across the top. As we got closer, we saw little hands and feet sticking out of the bottom. JR and his older siblings slept there the night before. I was heart broken.
Later on that week, we had a game day with the kids in an empty parking lot. We played with water balloons. JR was my partner, of course. Then, we played Red Rover. JR got hurt when he was sent "on over" to the other side. He didn't want to play anymore, so we sat on the curb and watched until the game was over. He laughed and laughed at the other kids playing the game.
During our last night in CDO, we went to the city square at night hoping to find some of the kids. Thankfully, JR showed up. I knew it was my last night with him, but he didn't. I sat on the ground in the middle of the square to relax. JR found me and promptly sat in my lap. We just sat there and watched everything else go on around us until we had to leave. I'd see JR again but only for a few days at the end of the month before heading to Thailand.
When you meet a kid like JR, the first thing you ask yourself is, "How can I get him off the streets?" You think about somebody back home who could adopt him, or…if you're like me…you wonder if maybe someday YOU could adopt him. I think and think and think, but all I need to do is be, be, be. Just be there. Don't try and fix the situation. What can I do RIGHT now that could help this little boy?
To be honest, JR's problem is not mine to solve. It's God.
"…because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him." Job 29:12
All I can do is show JR as much love as I possibly can while I am with him. Pick him up. Hold him. Hug him. Make him smile. Make him laugh. Give him a five. Let him climb on me like a jungle gym. Pray for him. Clearly, these are the things that needs RIGHT now. God will take care of the rest.
