“Mzungu, How are you?!?� Mzungu, Muzungu, Muzungu… those words have followed me everywhere I went the last 3 months. Muzungu means foreigner or white person. Most often it also means someone who is also beautiful and generous. Kids in particular would shout from hundreds of feet away just to get our attention, jumping up and down with HUGE BEAUTIFUL SMILES on their faces, straining to get our eyes to meet theirs in hope we would just wave back.
On one occasion my team had gone across the border to visit a outdoor market in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This country is not very safe and so there are not many non-Africans that venture across the border. All of a sudden I hear those magic words I have come so accustomed to. “Mzungu, mzungu, How are you?!?!� But this time it was different, there was a desperation in the tone of their little 3 and 4 year old voices. I look up to see about 8 kids jumping up and down, some already running towards me and my team. As they ran some tripped and fell, but popped up with legs already running like nothing happened. They were just determined to get close to us. As they approached I got down on their level and opened my arms, just to be tackled and scoop some of God’s beautiful children up in my arms. They couldn’t speak English and this interaction only lasted a few moments but it left an impact on me. It gave me such a fulfilling joy to love on those precious little ones. These kids just wanted to be close to us, to get a hug, and receive some love. They didn’t want money, just a smile and an acknowledgement that they were special.
What would it look like if we ran after God that way? What does it look like to drop everything you are doing just to touch the hand of our savior as He passes by. They were single mindedly determined to reach us, their eyes fixed on the goal. Sometimes I think that we see glimpses of who God is and just let Him walk by. We see Him in all his glory and have an opportunity to be scooped up in His arms but are just to busy to stop what we are doing and run after Him. Maybe that is part of what it means to have the faith of a child. To be single mindedly devoted to drawing close to our savior, only to be scooped up in His arms of love. What does that look like to run after God in hopes of a loving touch rather than hopes of prosperity and favor? How often do we run after our Lord wondering what He will give us in return. So often I find myself caught up in me, in what I’m doing, and what I want that I need incentive to spend time with God. I want to know it will be worth my time and my effort. How’s that for honesty? I wonder how much I miss because I don’t’ just run after Him with everything I have.
So there it is God. This is my prayer. Let me never be to busy and to wrapped up in myself to run after you. Don’t let me miss an opportunity to spend time in your presence. Let me be excited and fall over my self to run where you are headed. Father, let me just have the faith of a child.
