I’ve never been in love before.
At least, not like this.
I’ve never experienced a love that stirs my heart, and at the same time breaks it into a million pieces. A love that makes me want to spend every second of my day wrestling, playing basketball, and teasing teenage boys. A love that is so filled with strength, courage, hope, and joy that it can only be from the Lord.
A love that makes me imagine living in the Philippines after the race.
I’m at a loss for words.
Children’s Garden is a residential home in the Philippines for former street boys ages 12-18, located outside of Manila. They take in boys living on the streets, boys whose lives included abuse, drugs, gangs, and broken families, and they give them a home, a family, and the love of Christ. CG is dedicated to loving their 15 boys well, while at the same time teaching their boys how to love the people around them. And this month, my team and I have the immense privilege of hanging out with these CG boys every day, serving them as our ministry in the Philippines.
It only took 5 minutes of being with these boys to completely fall in love with them, and every second I’m with them I experience more of the Lord’s love. A love that totally understands 1 Corinthians 13; a love that redeems everything for God’s glory. The power of God’s love is that although these boys have pasts that are filled with hurts and pain and sadness unimaginable to me, our Creator and Redeemer and Father LOVES each and every one of them more than I could know.
This is a love that brings me to tears.
Every week, the crew at CG, including some of the boys, goes to visit and do outreach at Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL) — part of which is a sort of juvenile detention center for teenage boys, where many boys are waiting either to be sent to prison for various crimes or to age out of the CICL system. These boys are tough, defensive, and they come from some hard places.
When we went to visit CICL last week, Rachael and I were assigned to hang out with these 12-18 year old boys. We shared our names and dream jobs, played a game, and heard a Bible story from one of the CG staff men, and then hung out and played a lot of basketball.
The beauty of our few hours at CICL is this: while usually I would walk into a room filled with teenage gang members and be completely overwhelmed and terrified, I had no fear at CICL. Instead, the Lord gave me His eyes for each boy, and I walked in with the power of Christ, knowing the deep love He has for each of them.
In the Lord’s eyes, they wear no masks. They have no disguises or walls; with God they are little boys with tender hearts who crave love and acceptance. The Lord sees them as precious children, and He’s just waiting for them to come to Him, so he can pick them up and hold them close, and show them how much they’re loved.
At CICL, I saw boys waiting for redemption from a God they don’t know exists. At CG, I see the Lord’s powerful redemption in motion.
As I sat with my teammates and processed some of what we experienced at CICL after the fact, I found myself in tears again. God is faithful, y’all. He’s faithful to bring us to the places we need to be. He’s faithful to redeem us from the worst of pasts. He’s faithful in His love for each of us individually, no matter where we’ve come from or where we are now.
Every day here in the Philippines gets better and better. I get to spend my days with some of the sweetest boys on earth, and I’m savoring every second. I’ve been blessed to pieces by every boy I’ve met, and it’s only been one week.
I wish you could meet these boys. I wish each of you could experience walking through the gates at CG and having 14-year old Tisoy ask you to play cards with him, while dodging flying basketballs with 13-year old Wendell hanging off your waist. But while I can’t bring you here, you can still pray. Please pray for the precious faces you see in the pictures below. Pray that each of these boys would know the love of Christ, that they would know the redemption He carries for them, and that their lives would be changed because of it. I promise, your prayers are worth it.
^^Some of our boys getting ready for the fundraising concert they put on for Children’s Garden last week. They’re goons in front of the camera.
^^Me and Ervin, my dude. He’s 16 (even though he looks 12), and he is sweet and clever and he gives great hand massages. I don’t play favorites, but if I did, he’d probably win. Also he has great hair.
^^Owan and Wendell, demonstrating the love of selfies that seemingly every Filipino has. Can’t handle them.
^^Rachael with some of the sweet boys at CICL. I promise they smile in real life!
