I am nobody’s child, nobody wants me and nobody loves me;
Everybody blames me for having been born this way,
without having parents at my side because
ever since I was little they left me abandoned.
And I’ve scared people with my unpleasant face
I ask them for something to eat and they just insult me.
How I wish I had a family like you have:
Eating together and celebrating Christmas…
But that’s just a dream…
My eyes close to the darkness that I have to live every day.
(Chorus) Because I am nobody’s child, nobody wants me,
nobody loves me…I am nobody’s child.
The darkness around me screams out to me
to just die and bear no more.
The cold wants to break my bones;
I see people walking past me but I can’t get close to them
because my clothes are dirty and I fear they might hit me.
In order to forget I run away in tears,
I inhale the glue bottle stronger each time to ignore
and forget why my parents had to abandon me…
Maybe I should just stop talking because
They’re not gonna want to listen to me when I ask them.
What good does it do me to scream and cry if they aren’t
gonna help me,
I know that hurt…and only hurt I’m going to cause.
It’d be better if I just stop talking…
(Nobody’s Child, lyrics by Marvin Morazan)
Heart wrenching words about the life of a boy I just met. His story and sediments, I fear, are unique to him but not uncommon.
My team had the unique privilege to visit the Micah Project yesterday. Micah Project is similar in vision to Zion’s Gate with the expressed goal of both organizations being to redeem the lives of kids who are living on the streets. Michael Miller and John and Becca Bell hosted us with a tour of two downtown homes for street boys and a look at a new property the are developing just outside the city. Then they treated us to a delightful dinner with the boys in the main house including those that bared their souls to write and create the above video.
When you stack up the facts of what the communities these organizations serve are up against this could have been a disheartening day. For example, from the roof of the Micah Project you can see the hub of a major Mexican drug cartel. But, look a little closer and the broader scene yields hope. Above said drug depot sits the Jesus statue that hovers over the city, arms stretched wide.
Dark and light sharing a mountainside.
Micah Project and Zion’s Gate are beckons of light and hope in a shadow filled world. The boys of Micah Project reminded us, so clearly, of what the transformative work of Christ looks like. We returned home to our own boys at Zion’s Gate and prayed over them with new fervor. They too are a generation Jesus is raising up to redeem this complex community for Himself. No longer, Nobody’s Child but God’s Child bought with a price and living with a purpose.
