First sunday at the Salvation Army Church I sat 2nd row marveled by the congregation’s energy and roaring rhythm. There was a little boy sitting in front of me in the front pew. I tapped on his head and shoulders to the beat of the drums, just to be silly. I didn’t know this careless joke to make this boy laugh would be the start of a friendship I will never forget.
For the remainder of church I moved up the pew and sat with my new friend, Felix. After the service I asked him to come join us when we play soccer on the nearby grounds in the compound (this is a major part of our daily outreach to the children in this community).
The next afternoon I walked out of our gate surprised by the boy running my way. It was felix, and he glared up at me saying, “I have come.” We walked hand in hand to soccer and have walked the same path together every day since.
I love this scrawny 10 year old boy. I love our explorations through the corn fields to the creek. I love how he unexpectedly jumps on my back even though his tight grip hurts my shoulders, how he immediately snatches my camo hat and wears it as it swallows his tiny head, and how he squeezes my hand a little tighter as we cross the street. His mischievous smirk, ridiculous laugh, and tender heart..I love it all. Felly is my best friend.
I didn’t know I would meet Felly. When I left America Felly was not on my mind nor in my heart. I didn’t venture out from my secure home for him. I didn’t forsake my comfort and my normal for his fragile heart, or any fragile heart to be exact. That may sound insensitive, but it is the truth. I did not come here for the broken, addicted, confused, hurting or helpless. I came here for God. It’s ultimately not about them, but about Him. I was willing to be sent into the unknown because I know my God. I know His love and it is captivating enough to sweep me anywhere. I did not come here for Felly. I came here for God. Yet the crazy thing is, is that God is here for Felly. He is here for the broken, addicted, confused, hurting and helpless.
God is here for Felly. I am here for God. So I am here for Felix.
This realization hit hard one day at the soccer grounds as we sat talking in the grass.
Felly began to tell me about how he has never met his father, and his mother gave him up and lives elsewhere. He lives with an aunt who overlooks him for her own children. No one wants to claim him. His words stuttered with pain as he asked me why. Why no one wants him. I took him in my arms and held him tight as he wept the most sorrow-filled tears. My thoughts raced and I wondered how a young heart could become so polluted and damaged, and how I could comfort it in this moment. I couldn’t. I am not fit for that. But I know the only one who is; the man who spoke words of love over me until I finally acknowledged His goodness. The man who ravished my heart and the man who wants to ravish Felly’s. Jesus. Thank God Jesus took the reigns in that moment and sang words of Truth over Felly’s suffering. I told Felly about Jesus. Not the lifeless religious Jesus he thinks about while he sits in boredom at church, or the distant Jesus he sings about in songs he barely understands the words to. I told Felly about the man who wants him, loves him and died so that he didn’t have to live in pain.
In that moment I could not deny that God was there. God was there to comfort this broken child and to tell him about an escape. He was there to hold him and wipe away his rolling tears. He was here for Felly, and I was here for Him. As I am loving Felly, I am loving God. God makes it about loving us. Loving us! He doesn’t have to, but he chooses to. That right there is astonishing. What a God I serve. What a God I follow. What a God.
“ ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go visit you?’
The king will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ ”
Matthew 25:35-40
Hmm..what a God.
Everyday since Felly wept in my arms I have asked him to tell me “the thing”. He looks up to me and says, “I am loved. I am wanted. I am chosen. Jesus came to save me and give me a home.” And I say “Where is that home Felly?” With eyes locked on mine, “In heaven and in his arms.” Everyday he says this.
