Love in service

I love these kids in El Delirio. This week we taught them the history of Samson. We try to add in a little animation, so Pablo played Samson and I played the white narrator. 

Pablo and I don't do anything special. We visit, share God's word, bring drinks and snacks, and color pictures together. It's special for them though. Although Pablo doesn't like to be called "Gringo", it makes me smile when all the kids start yelling, "Los gringos estan aqui", and there are 50 kids that seemingly come out of the bushes to join us in the little community building we enter. Some of these kids have a good parent or two that takes care of them and love them, but a lot of them don't. Many are without fathers. Many are without role models in their life. The situation's no different from anywhere in the world. It becomes that much more obvious amidst great poverty though. You see in some of the pictures there are a few kids that have a new set of clothes, but most are covered in the same dirty clothes we saw them in the week before. A lot of their little bellies hang out 'cause they're wearing the clothes they had when they were two years younger and smaller. For me, visiting these kids doesn't get old.

Yesterday I sat and talked with a 15 year old that lives in our neighborhood. He told me his dad was as tall as I am. Knowing he's without a father now, I asked if he'd met him before. He answered no, that he hadn't, but that his mom had told him. While my friend plays it off like a tough guy, those types of things leave a void in anyone's heart. Fortunately he's taken comfort in the fact that God is a Father to the fatherless. But while God is the most important personal presence we're in need of in our lives, the essence of God's love is often most easily recognized in loved ones around us. For some it's tough to understand God as a loving father when they've never known a loving father. That is why the duty of Christians is simple, to love. Not the kind of love that society has caused us to think of, but a Godly love. The bible says that God is patient with us (2 Peter 3:9), kind to us (1 Peter 5:7), that he doesn't treat us with the punishment we deserve (Psalm 103:10), that his love is constant, and that he is slow to anger (Psalm 103:8). Love is a verb that God puts to work every day as he blesses us with new life every morning. When Jesus taught that we ought to love our enemy, he wasn't suggesting that we thoughtlessly give them lots of hugs and kisses. Jesus wasn't telling us how we were supposed to feel about people by loving them, he was instructing us how to treat them. Feelings are simply a result of the actions put forth. I promise that no one will ever truly love impatiently, no one will ever love pridefully, no one will ever love selfishly, and no one will ever love without hope. You've heard that the expression that love is blind. I respectfully disagree. Love is all seeing, all knowing and all powerful. God is love. The more we love those around us, the closer we are to God. And thus the more we seek God, the more we're filled with love.

Walking downtown the other morning around 7:30, there was a kid, maybe 10 years old, outside one of the buildings sleeping on the ground with his raggedy old shirt tucked over his knees because it was a cool morning. I've seen the kid before begging around town. I believe he is one of the kids that told us he left his home a few miles away to come beg in the streets of Matagalpa. As he lay there, everyone just walked by. People become numb to these types of things. Maybe many of the passers-by have attempted to help one of those kids before but to no avail, maybe not. Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that there's a homeless child sleeping on the sidewalk. While you're not going to see this in the United States, I guarantee you we've all passed up on such opportunities to serve in our every day life. How many things have we grown numb to because we lack the desire to lovingly serve those around us? Love isn't always pretty. Often times love comes with having to put up with someone we wouldn't spend 10 minutes with by choice. You might think love smells good, but it often comes with the worst BO. Contrary to Hollywood's perspective, showing love is usually not a desirable task. In the end, you'll find love to be selfless. We are selfish. Love is a requirement of getting outside of ourselves. Fortunately God has already paved the way, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." (1 John 3:16-18)