One thing about the Race that I love is that if you don't have a camera ready someone else will. Well there are very few times that I wish I had my camera ready and I'm about to tell you about that time. Sadly no one else from the team had their cameras out to capture the initial reaction either. So you'll just have to use your imagination.
What does amazement look like? Is it the look that a kid gets when he finds out that the large box under the Christmas tree is for him? Is it the look that we get when we see that we did 100 times better on a test or paper than what we thought? Is it the look that we get when we get in to our school of choice? Is it the look that we get when we get our dream job or get accepted to the Race?
What does Joy look like? What does it feel like? Is it a high that makes us smile and laugh nonstop? Does it look like people jumping up and down when they get a car? Or is it when the two people you know were destined for each other finally get engaged and later married? What does Joy look like?
I think I saw the most perfect earthly example that I may ever see of what Joy, Love, and Amazement looks like. I saw it at Milly's orphanage just outside of Katali Kenya. I saw it in the faces of 30 some beautiful girls, and 3 or 4 boys. I saw it every time we were there. There is one event that sticks out to me the most though, because they got something they were never expecting. I mean I'm sure they never expected to meet and make friends with 7 Americans and 1 Mexican. I'm sure they never expected that we would give them a meal each time we came. I'm sure they never expected that we would help create a website/facebook for them so that they can get their stories out, so that they can start finding supporters. I'm sure they never expected that we would bathe them and help them clean the house. I'm sure they never expected that we would play with them. I'm sure they never expected that being with them was the highlight of our month.
But I doubt that they would have expected to receive something so simple that we take for granted. I doubt that they would have guessed that we would bring them something that they knew they needed, but it was on the lower end of the needs list. The look of shock, awe, being dumbfounded, then shrieks of excitement, joy, pleasure, and awe filled the air. I honestly don't know how to describe it in words.
So what did they get you ask? Well let me set the stage for you. We had just finished giving them a bath when we asked if they wanted to watch a movie. Shouts of excitement and the sounds of running feet came flooding into the living room. Andi set up her laptop and we started watching the Lion King. Shortly after the opening scene where Rafiki holds tiny Simba in the air, it came. They saw it coming up the driveway/road before we did. They ran out jumping up and down. They were first silently in awe then when they realized this was real, they became super excited.
What happened you still ask? They got not one but two mattresses. That's right mattresses. Oh, and they are brand new! The mattresses that they do have were falling apart and there was nowhere near enough for everyone to sleep comfortably. Most slept on the concrete floors with little to no blankets to help keep them warm. So were a bit more luck to be sleeping off the floor but on wooden planks on the bunk beds. By the way, there were 6 kids in each bed and each bed is smaller than a double sized bed but slightly larger than a single. So the smaller the kids, the more can fit on one bed.
But back to the story. The kids were so excited that we had to pause the movie for a good 5 minutes so that they could start getting over the shock of it. They were so excited about them that the mattresses never did make it to the bedrooms. Instead they ended up on the floor in the living room and everyone, I mean everyone, tried to sit on them to watch the movie. If they couldn’t sit on it they wanted to touch it. After the movie they took turns playing on it. They were have tickle attacks on it, they would jump from one to the other, they would roll around on them, and one or two fell asleep on them during the movie. When it was time for lunch they wanted to eat on it but Milly told them no and had them put it up in the bedrooms. The disappointment was clearly evident but it also quickly disappeared when they decided to fight about which room it should go in. Milly quickly stepped in as the argument was just starting to tell them what room. Then the kids were then again filled with awe and joy realizing that they were going to get to sleep on something warm and soft for once! The idea of sleeping seemed much more appealing to them now and we could tell they were excited for it. One way we figured this out is that some of the younger kids disappeared for a nap before we left. They didn’t do that in the past when we were there.
So there you have it. Joy and Amazement from what I have seen, looks like children, teens, and young adults receiving something that they needed but never thought that they would have. The love that we have for them and they have for us was evident to us all. Joy and Amazement is simple and pure. We don’t see its real form in America I think. Why? Because we have everything we could ever need or even ever want. When you give something out of love and the receiver is filled with the pure and simple joy and amazement, then the same happens to the giver. Joy and Amazement is something that spreads to everyone in the room, it's contagious. It is beautiful. It is lasting. It is something that will last long after you've left. It's when you know for sure that Heaven has invaded Earth in that moment. It’s when you know for sure that you see Jesus in each of those kids. It’s when you see Jesus in your team. It's when you can feel everyone in Heaven looking in and feel the smiles and laughter. It’s when even for a moment everything is perfect and nothing could go wrong. It's when you know that you were created for that moment and more like it. It’s when all the words ever created and that will ever be created will never come close to describing it. It’s when you have found the Father's heart.
