My heart was dark and my thoughts were ugly…I wanted out…out of the ministry we were going to…and out of my body hurting from hiking and climbing stairs. My introverted self needed to go hide somewhere…but it just wasn’t an option. We got to the slum and I wandered through the cramped alleyways, past the women doing laundry in the dirt thinking I don’t have anything to give them Jesus…I mean I know I have you…but I just have nothing left to give them….I don’t even know how to show or share You with them right now …I…JUST…CAN’T.
Amidst the bleakness, the garbage, and what felt like a whole lot of desperation whether mine or there’s there was something rather remarkable. It was like the first scene of Wizard of Oz where it’s all ugly out and in the next moment…after the twister…COLOR…hints of overwhelming color. One of the girls blew up balloons and the kids were chasing after their balloons like their life depended on it….soooo BEAUTIFUL…such contract in the slum. They laughed…I laughed…the atmosphere was shifting. Kicking a soccer ball around as a puppy gnawed on a bone from who knows where, and other puppy’s leapt around…I saw LIFE…HOPE…POSSIBILITIES. And once again…I saw HEAVEN…yep…it’s so weird to me how God keeps showing me heaven in slums…but I can see His goodness even in places like this.
My Squad Leader grabbed me to go prayer walk…we started heading to one direction of the slum and then she remembered a guy with a cut and asked if I had a Band-Aid…ha, did I? I was loaded! Last month we saw a woman who had been hit by a car on her motorcycle moments after the accident. I was so mad at myself that we didn’t have a towel or anything to help her in that moment…I usually keep stuff in my car back home…just in case. So this time I was a bit more prepared…even though it wasn’t blood and guts it was a deep cut that had had glass in it. We were able to Neosporin and bandage it up with a 4×4 for the guy. I knew he probably wasn’t going to keep up with it…it was our only day in that location…but we said a prayer and were off to hunt for more folks to chat with.
Wandering through more alleys the sun shined on a boy sitting in the middle of a really tight alley in a wheelchair of all things. We found out the boys name was Arson from his older brother. He was covered in rice from lunch and his mom was just kind of gruff handling him while feeding, cleaning, brushing his teeth, and putting a new sweater on him. We knew he needed some LOVE…gentle…sweet…tender love a mama should give her son. So we just sat there…looked him in the eyes, held is deformed mangled hands, touched his arms and shoulders stroking his neck and hair. We spoke truth over him, how we had come to just see him, how much Jesus loved him…the kid was just eating it up although we’re not sure he understood a word we were saying in English. We even busted out a little “You are my Sunshine” and sang to him…a teammate had serenaded our contact last month with the song so it was fresh in my brain. We bandaged his finger up and gave him a bracelet that he just starred at. He petted a dog that walked by and a huge SMILE crept across his face…it was sheer bliss. Arson’s brother came back and told us that he was a Christian worship leader of all things. He showed us a book with Christian poems and music. The three of us sang Light of the World together in the middle of the alley. It was outrageously awesome…just two sisters with our brother we had just met…praising Jesus. We exchanged contact info and were off to meet up with the group.
Minutes later we were sitting in a dusty small little church with hemp rugs on the ground eating our bag lunches. We wolfed our food and a couple of folks grabbed a guitar, tambourine, and drums that belonged to the church and began to play. Although it was a sweet time nothing quite compared to an improve worship session in the middle of an alley as a boy named Arson looked on.
The day may have started black, white, and gray but it ended with bursts of light in my soul. It made me think of the many children that bustle around us every day on the race…their innocent look when they don’t have to say a word…you just KNOW they want Up. God knew I wanted “Up” that day…that I needed his strong reassuring arms…and I just didn’t know how to ask at that point. I am so thankful for a God like that…and to be on a trip with simple but profound moments like this…Wow!
