Let all who are thirsty…all who are weak…come to the fountain. Dip your heart in the stream of life. Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away by the waves of His mercy.
Come Lord Jesus, Come.
Most of you have probably heard this song before, unfortunately I can’t remember who sings it. I had heard it a thousand times, but never paid much attention to what it as actually saying, until recently. I was listening to it one day and I could see these children with their tin bowls and spoons lining up for probably the only meal that they were going to eat that day.
It’s hard to think that these children ARE the hungry, the thirsty and the weak, literally. These children walk, some from far away, to be fed 5 days a week. (The care points aren’t open on the weekend or holidays or when the king is in town.) They didn’t ask to be born; they didn’t ask for their mom or dad (or both) to die or abandon them; they didn’t ask to be hungry or scared or some of them sick. A lot of them will go home to an empty house at the end of the day or to a house where they have to take care of their brothers or sisters because there’s no adult or if they’re one of the luckier ones they’ll go home to a house with at least one parent, but nothing to eat. But that’s their life. And if I look at this situation at face value, I break down. What is their options for their future? What opportunities do these kids have? The answer is pretty bleak.
But when I look at how God is working already in the short time that we’ve been here, I see God wanted these children born. He HAS a purpose for them. He has provided them with food; He is bringing people into Nsoko to show His love for them and tell them about a future in Him; He is their father (with Him, none of them are orphans).
Every day I’m so impressed with these children. They are all so strong. I only hope that before we leave that they all realize that God does love them and that people actually love them too.
