It’s been quite some time since I last blogged. It is now month three of the race and we are in Honduras, right outside the city of Tegucigalpa. My team is working with Loyalty Schools, teaching English to the 35 children that attend the school. My teammate Simone and I have the pleasure of teaching 5 adorable preschoolers. That is where this story starts.
This is David. He is the only boy in our classroom. When our host was telling us about the preschool classroom, he warned us about David. He told us that he was quite ‘unruly’ and that we would have our hands full with him. You see, David has some kind of special need, although they aren’t sure what exactly. From the moment I heard about David I knew I wanted to work with him. I loved him already and I hadn’t even met him yet.
David loves to play. He loves Legos and little toy animals. He loves puzzles and books. He loves to sing songs. He loves sitting in our laps and playing with our watches. He loves to put his nose up to yours and looking in your eyes. He loves having his picture taken.
David is a sweet, kind, and caring child.
But he is also stubborn and defiant at times. When that happens, he screams and hits and kicks. He throws himself on the floor and hides under tables. And David runs. He LOVES to run.
So what do we do when this happens? We hold him. We talk to him and tell him no. We run after him. We pick him up and bring him right back to the classroom.
This happens at least five times a day, probably more. But each time, as frustrating as it may get, we go after him again. We never just let him go, but we run after him each and every time.
My relationship with David, I realized, looks a whole lot like my relationship with God.
God loved me before He ‘knew’ me, before He even created me. Even though He knew I would be ‘unruly’ and ‘stubborn’ and ‘defiant’ at times, He still LOVED me.
And what’s even more is that He still WANTED me.
He knew that there would be times that I would kick and scream. That I would throw myself on the floor and hide from Him. God knew that there would be times when I would run away.
But what does He do when that happens? He holds me. He talks to me. He tells me ‘no’ because He has something better in store.
When I run away, God comes chasing after me. He picks me up and carries me back to Him.
No matter how many times I do this, God always comes after me.
He never just lets me go, but He pursues me over and over and over.
Because I am His sweet, kind, caring child.
And so are you.
