Africa is wonderful.
The temperature feels like we have finally left the surface of the sun. The people are full of smiles as they pass us. Even if sometimes it is just because they are laughing at my beard. (A guy on the street actually called me Father Christmas yesterday.) The children in the schools we visit are overflowing with joy which in turn makes us overflow with joy. It’s a nice cycle.
But Africa is also incredibly stretching.
Schedules are frustratingly flexible. Last minute changes are not only acceptable, but normal and expected. Unless you are American. Like me.
One such schedule change found me rather irritated a few days ago.
I left the office on Wednesday night with one school visit of about an hour on my plate for the next day. I showed up to the office on Thursday morning only to find I would now be going to an orphanage from 10:00 to 5:00.
I had not packed a lunch, I had not prepared to teach any children, and I was not mentally ready for a six hour increase in my day.
It’s safe to say I was in a pretty crummy mood.
But then we got to the orphanage. We heard the story of the place, of some of the kids, and then we walked the grounds and we saw where some of those stories happen.
The orphanage takes in children up to the age of eighteen who have been abused, many of them sexually. Most of the teenage girls there have a child. One of the staffers told us every child there is a victim of some sort of abuse.
This is their life. Every day.
This is my life. One day.
As I interacted with the younger children and saw the joy on their faces as they climbed all over their new American friends I began to experience freedom from my self centered attitude just as they had experienced freedom from the pain of their pasts.
Freedom is a beautiful thing. You can experience freedom from anything in your past. In fact, the only reason your past even matters in regards to freedom is so you have something to be free from. But freedom, true freedom, means you are completely severed from whatever was clinging to you. It cannot hold you back any longer.
I saw that on Thursday. I saw futures for these kids independent from their pasts. What happened to them is tragic and should not be ignored. But it should also hold no power over what happens next. And I believe it won’t.
These kids have a bright future ahead of them. And it is because God has broken the power of their pasts and given hope where there was none to be found.
Just as He did for me. And for you.
God spilled tears for those children I am sure. But He also spilled blood.
Jesus’ sacrifice is the reason we can experience freedom from such tragedy. The cross is enough. Always.
The cross is enough for me. It’s enough for you. And it is enough for the broken hearted around the world. And for that I am eternally grateful.
