I have met a lot of kids on the World Race. I’ve met a lot of kids in my life in general.
Most kids are happy.
But it’s that other group- the group whose smiles don’t reach as high. The group who reach up for people who reach down to them the quickiest.
It’s the group of kids who already have a small cloud over them that reach up to my heart. I’ve prayed over kids in my classroom whose parents were divorcing. Held babies in orphanages in China wiped noses of kids in townships, ran in the dirt in Mexico praying that the little bare feet next to me wouldn’t step in glass and played basketball on a Sunday morning with kids in Watts.
Kids whose eyes aren’t as bright break my heart.
On Tuesday when praying for the day and the ministry we would be doing God put it on my heart to pray for the kids in the squatter camp. For the knowledge they didn’t need to know. For the burdens they already had. And later our contact Johann asked me if I would write out my prayer- not as a prayer but just my view of it.
This is what came out:
I see kids running around playing.
Covered in dirt, with snotty noses
Kids of different ages
With different laughs
But some of these kids have seen too much
Most have.
There are some that are still protected, live confused of the why
But there are others who know too much, who have seen and heard too much.
There are some that carry the burden of people much older then them.
There are some who’ve lost their childhood.
Every day a bit more sunshine leaves them.
These kids need light in their darkness.
They need someone to come to lift the burden and knowledge out of their life.
They need to know it doesn’t belong there.
They need a chance to have their childhood back.
As I looked back on my time on the race I realized that in all honesty I am probably burned out on kid’s ministry. I can do it- I just don’t know how to balance it yet. It’s who I am- what I’m good at. It’s my skill set.
But it gets tiring. We haven’t really worked with kids since March and it was a beautiful break- a beautiful time to reflect on why I was feeling burned out. (I still haven’t figured it out)
But when I walked into the squatter camp for the first time last week fully prepared to have conversations with adults— I saw those little less than bright eyes.
I saw the smiles that didn’t reach up to the eyes.
And I knew that I needed to stay seated on the ground letting kids climb all over me. I needed to let them pull my hair and take my “bom-boms” [hair ties] and attempt to do my hair in multiple different ways. I needed to show them love no matter what.
Show them that I didn’t care that they had snotty noses or bare feet. And I realized that I don’t see their snotty noses or their dirty feet.
I just see kids.
I realized that my prayer to see with Jesus’ eyes was answered.
Because Jesus wouldn’t see the dirt or the snotty noses.
He would just see His kids.And I feel as if He allowed me a moment to see just what He saw.
I love the little kids at the squatter from the overflow of my heart.
I pray that are few weeks playing with the kiddos at the squatter camp brought them a little joy.I pray that the lasting relationship Zehandi ministry has with the squatter camps not only changes the parents lives but impacts the kids.
I pray that these kids have a childhood.
[this is one of my favorite choral pieves I have ever sang. This version is sung by Azusa Pacific's choir in 2005]
