this organization is one we’ve partnered with. their website can be found here, and it’s a really powerful site. their ministry is to burn victim children. they take on a job of loving children that have been abandoned, tortured, and rejected by their families, and often society as a whole. it was an awesome opportunity to get into their lives and spend time with them. on their website, you can go and read the stories of each child, as well as look at pictures of them.
i’m only going to share about one of these precious kids now. sicelo (pronounce sty-low) met me near the basketball hoop in the driveway of the children of fire home. immediately, he looked me square in the eye, daring me to do the same. you could read it in his eyes that he wanted to know if i was going to look at him with love, or turn my eyes away like so many others have in his life. burn victims, especially children, face a tremendous amount of rejection, and he wanted to know what was behind my eyes.
i looked at him and made a comment to him about being pretty sure i could whoop his butt in basketball, and he smiled and told me i was wrong. and from that point on, he was an 11 year old boy looking to be loved and looking for a big brother. we played guitar and piano and sang. we played one-on-one soccer, and just enjoyed a few walks to and from the office down the street. he loved to get piggy back rides, and loved to be pushed around like he was my little brother. he climbed all over me and i trust he knew he was loved.
i’ve learned more about his life and background from his personal page on children of fire’s site above than i did in my time with him so far, but i learned his heart in the day i spent with him. it didn’t matter that he was HIV positive when i was at the house. it didn’t matter how he got burned…what mattered was the present.
one of my really close friends on the race shared with me some of clive staples’ insights from “screwtape letters” at the start of last month that has really made me think. holli wrote me and told me that in one of those letters, Uncle Screwtape writes his nephew Wormwood encouraging him to aim to get Christians to focus on either the past or the future, not on eternity or the present. it’s easy for us to live in past experiences, having seen God answer prayer or reveal himself – but those memories become distant if we don’t have new ones. God becomes farther away the longer we dwell in the past. likewise, the future is just a wishful projection of what we hope for, it’s not a reality. hope is a good thing, but it should be in the present work of Christ. dwelling in the present allows us to know that Christ is currently enthroned, that he is currently interceding for us, and that he currently has power over all authorities, powers, etc. Living in the present helps us to understand the God of eternity, and allows us to sieze the moments here and now to help people experience freedom found in Christ, and the freedom of being a part of his kingdom.
so i’m going to live in the present, hoping to bring eternity to the hearts and minds of those around me…
IF YOU SEE WHAT GOD SEES, YOU’LL DO WHAT GOD SAYS
-andy stanley
-andy stanley
