Tonight (12/7/12) I washed so much dirt and grime off of me that I thought for sure I had taken all the dirt with me from the charcoal factory. I wish that I had. The charcoal factory is a place where people live and manufacture charcoal for a living. These people are born there, live there, and die there. In essence, it is incredibly difficult to escape the harsh life of the charcoal factory.
As you walk closer to the site where the charcoal is being burned and created, whatever actually happens with that, the smoke becomes almost unbearable. Breathing becomes a task and suddenly all you can think about is where you can draw a clean breath of fresh air. Walking along the street your eyes are met with very dirty, naked kids running around and people scrounging through the trash bags that were dumped there.
The children run up to you. Never having been taught to “say no to strangers,” they grab on to any free hand they can find. Craving attention and love, they hang on you, begging to be held or hugged. Within 5 minutes your arms are holding children. In 10 minutes your hands are already covered in grime. After 15, your arms and legs are also covered in soot. Worrying about your clothing being clean when you leave is pointless. You will be covered from head to rain boot in some kind of sediment or excrement, but it doesn’t matter because the children receive love.
The first time we went to the factory we handed out food, which was a hard task. The children kept shoving in line and creating a mini mob. It was easy to become frustrated with them and want to force them somehow to behave, but then when you realize that they don’t have meals provided for them regularly it suddenly becomes easier to give grace and to love on them through it.
Tonight was the second time for us to visit and we did a mini crusade for the kids. It involved dramas and skits, songs, testimonies, and an “altar” call. The children were gathered in a cluster and seated on the ground. They were so cute! It appeared to be a great success in the fact that they were very engaged in both the skits and listened attentively to the testimonies being translated.
At the end we handed out candy. At first we just started handing it out at random, which was a really bad idea because suddenly kids mobbed me since I was holding a bag of candy. I thought I was going to be knocked over. Fortunately, though, we regrouped and organized them into something of a line. It was definitely crazy! Each time a kid cut the line my “fairness” started to kick in and I would want to ignore the child and not let them have candy unless he stood in line. Then as they would stand there, I would remember that they were just kids and that they were not guaranteed anything in their little lives.
A new side of mercy and grace has begun kicking in and I realize that the same way that these kids push and shove to get to food or candy is the same way I need to push and shove to spend time with my Savior. He continuously shows me grace and mercy when I mess up and when nobody else would show me grace. He has had ultimate patience with me throughout my life and he selflessly gave His life for mine taking all my sins upon Himself and dying on that cross. As we celebrate this Christmas season we always say, “Oh, it’s not about the gifts.” or “oh, it’s not about me, Jesus is the reason for the season!” but do our lives actually reflect that? I have been so guilty of saying things but not truly meaning them. This month, my eyes have been opened to so much to my own selfishness and my own lack of perspective. In America, I would be buying expensive gifts for my family and spending too much money on hanging out with friends and doing all the Christmasy things. Here, I look around and see the children shoving in line just to get a bowl of soup and half of a hard-boiled egg and I realize how good my life is and how meaningless Christmas in America can be.
This year I’m getting a new perspective on Christmas as we do these feedings for the children. I would love to give you the opportunity to feed over 200 children by giving $37 as a one-time donation. If you desire to give money email or Facebook me about it and you can send the check to my mom and I can get it out of the ATM. Pray about possibly donating and let me know!
