While working with Kids International Ministries in Manila, Philippines my squad and I have had the opportunity to be involved in a number of different ministries, but one in particular has stolen my heart completely. New Faith Family Children’s Home is an orphanage ran by K.I.M. There are around 40 kids living at the children’s home and their ages range from only a few months old to 16 years old. Most of the kids who live there were either abandoned or removed from their home because it was too dangerous to live there with those people and in that environment.
I’ll be honest, at first this was my least favorite ministry to be apart of.. simply because it was exhausting and I wasn’t willing to get over myself and just dive into it. I wasn’t willing to sit down with a kid and just ask the simple questions. I immediately wanted to know their story and why they were there because that’s what I thought ministry was suppose to look like, but a couple months later God totally proved me wrong. I realized that ministry doesn’t always look the same and it doesn’t always have to be sharing the gospel with someone or praying with someone, it can simply be pushing someone on the swing, staying up when you don’t want to and doing an overnight shift in the nursery, buying someone chips from Mini Stop, sitting with someone and just talking about life, going to a swim meet and playing “mom” for kids who don’t have someone (yet) to call mom.. it can be anything done out of love. And that my friends is what changes someone’s heart and life forever… love, a super natural kind of love.
Since working at the Children’s Home I’ve experienced lots of different emotions… joy, frustration, love, peace… and one of them keeps coming up, frustration. When I’m there I always find myself asking God the “why” questions… Why them? Why did they have to be found tied to a tree? Why did their mom or dad have to die? Why don’t they have shoes that fit them? Why haven’t they been adopted yet? Why, why, why, why, why, why, WHY. And while often times I don’t get a direct answer, God always reminds me that He is faithful. I might not understand now what He is doing or ever, but I do know that He is faithful and because of that all I can do is my job, which is to love and not to fix. I can’t fix their situation, I can’t fix what has happened to them, but I can love them and show them what love looks like, even in the short time that I’m here.
My prayer for my squad and I while we’re still here in The Philippines is that we love, and we love well. We love each other well, we love the people who are cooking for us and serving us each day well, we love the people on the street well, we love our hosts well, and we love the kids and young adults we minister to each and every day well. Really, really well. Because LOVE is going to make the difference. We can talk to people about Jesus all day, but if it’s not out of love it’s not going to go anywhere. We can wash a dish and a help a little in the kitchen, but if it’s not done out of love it’s pointless. We can talk to each other and tell each other how we’re feeling and how we’re frustrated with one another, but if it’s not done out of love it won’t go anywhere. I hope that above all we will love and people’s hearts will change because of that love that comes from The Father.
In the end, love doesn’t just keep thinking about it or planning for it, simply put, LOVE DOES.
–Bob Goff
