A small-framed and thin man, he was straddling an old, red bike and wearing tattered clothes: evidence of hard work and a small income. I didn’t notice Thomas standing to my right until he began to talk with me in his native Spanish tongue. I struggled at first to understand his muffled vocabulary, but almost instantly I had the feeling that Thomas was someone special. I saw it in the sparkle of his eyes and the authenticity of his smile.
I found out that Thomas lived alone in the mountains bordering Puerto Barrios, and he had no family to speak of. For a culture where families are typically very close, I recognized this was a big deal. Thomas believed in God but was not attending any church. Since there was little I could actually say to him, I wanted to pray for Thomas; yet I had a feeling that the Lord had sent him to me for something more.
Marisa stood nearby, so I asked her to come and pray with me for a word from God for this man. As we listened to the Lord, he began to speak of his love for Thomas. One of our squadmates came over to translate, and Marisa began to share a story that she hoped would touch Thomas’s heart. As she spoke, the words resonated in agreeance in my spirit.
The story went something like this:
Marisa knew a woman called to be a missionary to orphans in Africa. God had told this woman to take in every street child she found, not rejecting even one. As time passed, she found herself in the care of 4,000 orphans. That’s not a small number! But because God had told her to do this, there was a never a day when the children went hungry. Amazing, you may be thinking! But here is where the story picks up.
One of the boys at the orphanage was a real troublemaker. He had even raped a few of the other children, and many of the staff members thought it would be best for everyone to let him go. However, this woman was determined to obey what God had spoken to her, which was to keep every child she found.
One day, the boy ran away. Most of the staff felt relieved that he was finally gone at his own doing. However, God spoke to this woman, saying, “Go and find him.” She had no idea where to begin looking for this boy, but she continued to obey and soon found herself on a six-month search which cost her large amounts of time, mileage and money. Finally, she found her boy and took him home! She knew that she could not possibly abandon him at a time when he most needed her. Eventually, his life was radically transformed, all because of the unconditional love of this woman.
There is a parallel story to this one in the Bible. Jesus talks of himself as being the Good Shepherd and we being his flock. The flock know his voice and they follow him. When one goes missing, this Good Shepherd leaves the 99 in search of the one. He doesn’t give up until he finds this lost sheep. Jesus even loves his sheep so much that he lays down his very life for them.
Marisa told Thomas that God had been searching for him and had sent us to tell him that he was loved. She told Thomas that God was giving him a chance to either keep running away like the orphaned boy or to begin following the Shepherd. We invited Thomas to meet us at church on Sunday, and we parted ways. It was a special moment.
