It may not surprise you to discover that I hate shopping. I don’t just mean the typical anti-shopping stigma associated with the majority of my male comrades… I mean I HATE shopping. I avoid the mall like the plague and have already begun researching a cure for those struggling shopaholics. More than likely I’m the guy out shopping on Christmas Eve because I’ve absolutely refused to go any other time – and even that turns into a one man parade of confusion, chaos, and complete fear. If shopping were a sport, I wouldn’t make the team. Heck, I don’t even think I would make the bleachers…
But today all of that changed…
Today was different.
Meet the four amigos: Annan, Akhal, Sumba, and Boraht. These guys are the real deal. Only 14 and 15 years old, these young men make me want to be a better man. What the boys lack in age, they make up in heart. These four are the oldest boys at the compound and have had leadership thrusted upon them. Before you can ask for help, the boys have taken care of you. Before you can call the children for breakfast, the boys are already bringing out the food. Where there is a need, you’ll find the boys close by. Somehow these boys have found their way into my heart, more quickly than expected – probably because I see a lot of myself in each one of them. The boys are unique in their own gifts and talents, full of potential for God’s Kingdom, but yet void of an adult Christian male pouring life, support, and encouragement into them. They need someone to invest in them; someone to show them the ways of a godly man.
This afternoon, myself and Scott (the leader of the other team I’m partnered with this month) gathered the boys and surprised them with a trip into the city. Being orphans from the lowest caste system in India, these boys have only ventured into the city once or twice in their lifetime. They put on their finest clothes, combed their hair to perfection, and jumped into the back of the truck wearing their whitest and brightest smiles. Little did they know, this would soon be a day they would never forget…
On the way into the city, I stared into the bed of the pickup truck just smiling and watching. The boys were pointing at laughing at the hustle and bustle of the big city (which is small in comparison to my home in Lexington, Kentucky). It didn’t matter to them – you would have thought they were driving in a limousine through Times Square. We pulled up to the sports store and jumped out, eager to show the boys why they had been asked to join us. Team SOR 11 (Scott’s Team) and Team Fugee (my team) decided to purchase sports equipment for the orphanage with our support money. Up until now, sports/play items have been anything but present at the orphanage. The children play badminton with chalkboards as their rackets or result to games using only rocks and chalk.
The four amigos were hesitant at first as they allowed Scott and I to choose most of the equipment. We made sure, however, to get their opinions on some of the items as well. After purchasing $225 worth of jump ropes, rackets, chess boards, soccer balls, basketballs, and Frisbees, we had just one more surprise left. We whispered to the gentleman behind the counter to pull a box from the top of the shelf, high above all the rest. As he returned to the counter he opened up the box and revealed a brand new pair of shoes. Annan, Akhal, Samba, and Boraht gazed upon the shoes as if they had some magical power. These four boys have never owned a pair of shoes in their entire life. They didn’t know what size they wore, how to tie them, or even how to put them on. Scott and I assisted in making sure all the shoes fit and would last them for the next couple of years. It was one of the most humble and satisfying moments of my entire life. They were so happy to receive what would be considered such a small gift in the U.S.
If I could go shopping for orphans everyday I would. To see their faces, experience their smiles, and embrace their hugs of thankfulness and appreciation was truly a spiritually and emotionally overwhelming experience. I did nothing spectacular, nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing that took great courage. I just loved these boys. Sometimes our Christian minds can over-complicate Jesus. We think that in order to truly engage in ministry we must preach to a crowd of 500, feed an entire nation, or raise someone from the dead. Then and only then are we considered in ministry. But Jesus knew better than that and Instead simply called us to love on people: hug them, laugh with them, cry with them, play with them, and just walk beside of them. At the end of the month when my team departs Mercy and Grace Orphanage or even perhaps when the boy’s shoes become old and withered, I hope they can still remember one thing…
They were loved by someone.
