Dust lingers in mid-air as if time doesn’t exist here. The sun is scalding.
The dirt doesn’t get a chance to rest below their feet before another rush kicks it up.
For being in a country where families can barely keep a roof over their kids’ heads, these streets are busy.
This particular road accommodates trucks, bikes, hammocks, homes, dogs, and, most often, hungry kids.
Sometimes, I think the injustices we experience can outweigh the Truth in life. It’s so much easier to get caught in our emotions, or at least the ill-feelings in experiences like this. It will never be fair that kids have to run down this street hoping there’s food left to nourish their bodies, or that it may be the only meal they get for 24 more hours. It induces tears and sparks anger.
My mind wanders to their culture, wondering if the kids feel angry and sad about it, too. Is it just their way of life? Do they know 3 meals per day can exist? Are they not just surviving, but actually thriving?
I see a family of 14 finally get full plates brought to them, and the oldest doesn’t hesitate to give the food to the babies first. Do they willingly give it up, just hoping there’s some left for them? Do they want to serve, or is it just a rule? Do they fear the hunger pains won’t go away? Do they have them anymore at all?
There will never be a solution to the problem. What people saw down this street wasn’t functioning when they visited. They had the resources and compassion from God to help make it a little better. I’ve always hated the saying, “That’s just the way it is.” It sounds hopeless, mundane, and full of death.
The saying is True. Jesus says, “I am the way, the Truth, and the life.” The way it is is Jesus, and we don’t have a choice but to trust that. I wish these kids didn’t have to travel this road. I wish it wasn’t the only avenue to food for them most times. They could have 2 or 3 meals per day, every day. They could have snacks and more accessibility.
The way they do have it, though, is at least one meal per day, and a home that stands with arms open as wide as the doors. That is Jesus’s way right now.
The road most traveled has a lot of suffering, pain, heartache, and misunderstanding. It also contains a lot of Jesus, love, hope, and purpose. Who am I to get to even be a part of the work God does on this road, much less question the functionality and sustainability of it all? Injustices and suffering will never make sense to our brains and small emotional capacity. Sometimes, the way it is is just the way it is, and trusting God in that way is all we have.
