Today was a fun day to sit down and dream a little about where our ministry with the street kids and the gang boys is going. I sat with Jodi, our full time missionary with KIM that is kind of heading this one up, and just tried to think of ideas of where we could go. After catching up for a while, Kerrin stopped in to join us. She’s only down here in Malaybalay for a little over a week, but she’s looking to make the full time move to the Philippines this coming summer. Now the decision is whether to stay here or live in Manila.
Kerrin’s heart is for the kids on the street and she wants to give her life to them. She has served up in Manila with KIM and a few other ministries and is down here in Malaybalay to see what we have going on. It was really touching to hear her story about where she had just been. She told us that she was dropped off to do a little grocery shopping and then wanted to make the walk home. On her walk, she ran into one boy that caught her eye. He begged her for money, but rather than fork over the cash, she asked if he was hungry. The boy looked up at the fast food sign of the store he was begging in front of, and of course his answer was yes.
By the time the boy accepted Kerrin’s offer, there were two more boys around his age that had “mysteriously” joined the conversation. So she took the boys in, ordered them a meal and sat and ate a sundae with them outside. Most people either ignore these boys that are always out begging, or just throw them a couple of coins in passing. The rare kind hearted individual might give them a bag of bread, but I’ve never heard of someone actually sitting with them until they finished. The boys saved a little in their take out boxes and they all got up to leave. By the time Kerrin made it home, she was excited to tell the story.
Even as she told he story, I didn’t feel like this was some odd event that rarely happens in her life. I felt more like this was a daily action that she wanted to continually happen in her life. This is something super easy because it involved giving up the one commodity that we’re all in equal income brackets: time. We’re all given the same amount each day we’re alive, so in that aspect, we’re all equals. It can be a blessing to give a beggar a few coins. It can even be a blessing to go buy them a ready to eat fried chicken and a bottle of Coke. But how incredible of a blessing is it to actually share the meal with them?
After all, eating with people was one of the most recorded of Jesus’ actions in the Bible. Maybe, instead of begging for miracles all the time, I should just pull up a chair with a sinner or tax collector or even a Pharisee and just share some fried chicken. It may not seem like the most scholarly, profound, or religious thing to do, but Jesus did it a lot. So I guess it’s a good use of my time…
