*Nick is thin, lanky six-year-old boy who lives on the streets of Battambang, Cambodia. He wears a men’s grey wife beater tank top that looks more like a dress on his tiny frame than a tank top. His smile is one of the most contagious smiles I have seen on my journey this year. It literally makes my heart swoon and melt when he pokes his little face, freshly washed and splotchy from baby powder, around the corner after his morning bath. He B-lines it, bursting with energy, to the first person he makes eye contact with and snuggles up only to fall asleep because he is so exhausted from his long night of begging in the night markets until one or two in the morning.
The first morning I hopped in the truck to pick the kids up at 6 a.m., *Nick sat on my lap. That’s when I noticed his legs. They were covered in sores, oozing and swollen. The open wounds created craters and mounds up and down his little, skinny limbs. My first instinct was to be sure that his legs didn’t touch me, or at least that they didn’t touch my bare skin. Immediately, I was ashamed of my instinct. “How could you, Heather?” I whispered silently to myself. “Seriously, think of what Jesus would do.”
That morning, *Nick taught me more about humility than I think anyone has on the Race. Here is part of my journal entry from that day:
“Oh man, the boy who wears the massive grey tank top is teaching me so much, without him even being aware of it. He has sores all over his legs from infected bug bites and wounds that cover his little feet. But his smile is the purest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Today he sat on my lap in the pick up truck, and I just hugged him tight and played the drums on his rib cage that I could feel and make out so clearly. I can’t recall his name, so hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get it. I also want a good photo of him. So, what has this little one taught me? Well, I imagined him being the little boy that Jesus sat in the middle of the disciples in Matthew 18. He is a humble little boy who simply lives each day as it comes. He has hardly anything to call his own, yet he is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven – dirty, bleeding, sores and scabs and all. THAT thought was humbling. I deserve nothing more or less than this little one. Yet, the grace and mercy of Christ is all over him and has touched his life without him even asking for it… maybe without him even realizing it! THAT is what mercy looks like. Jesus, your love is extravagant!”
I read through Matthew 18 and put *Nick in that little boy’s shoes. Jesus loves him and makes him the example of the greatest in the Kingdom, and all the disciples are humiliated that they were arguing about such a thing. Jesus tells them that they must humble themselves and become like that child in order to be the greatest. As *Nick sat on my lap that day, I felt like I was one of the disciples at that scene. Jesus gently took my hand and whispered, “Heather, humble yourself and be like *Nick. Though he has nothing for show and is dirty and wounded, he is considered the greatest. I love the broken and needy. I came for the sick and hurting.”
I thought to myself in that moment that my mission is to be like Jesus to these kids. And if that is what I am to do, that means that I am to embrace this little one on my lap because he IS the greatest. Disregarding his worldly “worth” and fully embracing his heavenly worth. That kind of mercy and love is the kind that only comes from Jesus, and I knew I couldn’t do it on my own because… let’s be real, this child’s legs were oozing puss and other liquids I’d never seen before… and that’s not easy to embrace.
My prayer that night was for a change of heart and for a deeper revelation of the way that Jesus would love these children. I’m not perfect and it takes me a few minutes every morning to get it in my head that their physical wounds aren’t anything compared to the worth they have in the Kingdom of God. I constantly have to remind myself of Jesus’ example and renew my mind throughout the day in order to fully embrace the little kids like *Nick. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it when you see them melt into your arms or laugh hysterically when you throw them in the air and catch them to their surprise. My heart is bursting with love for these children.
I pray that we can all learn to embrace the people in our lives who are the lowest on the totem pole. The ones that are ignored or shooed away. The ones that people ignore or, worse, spit at and curse. I pray that we can see their Heavenly worth and ask ourselves, “How would Jesus love this precious one?” And not just ask and say, “Oh, that’s a nice idea,” but actually do it.
Who, in your life, needs to be loved for their Heavenly worth rather than their worldly worth? How can you love them like Jesus would physically love on them?
***Nick’s name has been changed to protect the child’s identity.
