My team is here in Cartagena, Colombia this month, and God knew what He was doing when He brought us here. This place needs the love of God.
We live in a neighborhood called San Francisco. In this village, gang activity and drug use run rampant from a very young age. We knew this before coming, but we really had no idea what it was really like. After getting to know some of the locals, we have gotten a more realistic picture of the struggles of this community. Let me paint you a picture of the typical life of a child here in San Francisco…
Meet Omar. Omar is seven years old. Like the majority of children his age, he has made the decision to leave home. At home food is scarce due to the extreme poverty, and he wears the same ratty clothes because his parents can’t afford to buy him new clothes but maybe once or twice a year. He doesn’t really see a point in staying at home. He is sure that there is more out there somewhere. In search for the love and material security that he doesn’t receive there, he sets off for a life in the streets.
Once he has left his family for the streets, he finds other means to make money and get the things he needs. As he struggles to learn the ropes of stealing for the things he wants, he sees the older guys on the block living large. He knows they are part of one of the local gangs. He has heard about them for as long as he can remember. He stares at them with their new clothes and full stomachs and starts daydreaming of what that must be like when all of the sudden he notices one of the guys staring back. Before he can look away, the guy starts walking towards him. He asks him his name, and for the first time in Omar’s life, he feels special. He feels seen. This guy takes him in. He introduces him to the rest of the gang. Life starts to get a little better for Omar. He has friends. These friends teach him how to steal for real. They show him what it’s like to get high. The gang starts to feel like family. Who knew that could be a good thing! Whatever he steals he has to give to the gang, all of it. But he doesn’t even care. He has plenty of food, plenty of material goods, and plenty of love from his new family. Life is good. Then one day him and his best friend Jose are on their way back from their latest robbery when out of the alley walk two guys from their rival gang. They start talking smack at Omar and his friend, who of course don’t stand for that. Words get heated until all of the sudden the guys pull a gun. Omar and Jose turn to run when Omar hears the ringing of the gun. He doesn’t feel any pain so he keeps running. “Whew, that was close, huh Jose?” No response. Still running, he turns his head around and sees Jose laying on the ground with a pool of blood around his head and the two guys standing over him going through the loot of their latest find. His heart starts to pound, pain shooting through his body at the loss of his friend. He keeps running until the pain in his heart is numbed by the pain in his feet. This is life, shake it off. Be a man. Part of his heart dies as he pushes back the pain that tries to linger in his heart. He continues this way throughout his teen years spending his time in and out of jail, watching his friends die, and becoming more and more numb to the truth of love.
While this story is fictional, it is based on real facts about what life is like for the kids here in San Francisco. Gangs aren’t something they watch on tv from the comfort and security of their homes like we do in the states. They steal to live and are slaves to their gangs. But there is hope! We play kickball with the neighborhood kids everyday. This is the bulk of our ministry this month. It doesn’t seem like much, but these kids just need love. They don’t need to have love shoved down their throats in words. They need to see and experience love. That is what we are trying to do here: be the love of Christ for a neighborhood who desperately needs it. Please partner with us in prayer for these kids and this community. These kids need to have love shown to an extreme extent, but don’t forget that people in your own lives need the same thing. Who is God highlighting to you today to really show his love? Slow down. Let’s stop talking about the love of Christ and start being the love of Christ to the world around us! Ready, Set, Go!
