Serving the smallest...

Simply amazing how God can speak to us sometimes!...

I have now been doing 4 weeks of outreach in YWAM. This entails mainly getting up from my cozy bed in the chilly windy weather of Cape Town in April, and going out somewhere in town or on the neighboring farms to reach out to local people. We usually drive through the neighborhood, tooting and inviting everyone to come to the main square or a near public soccer stadium or a school ground. There we set up a little show. Some of us do evangelical songs, some do dances and drama, others simply hang around among and with people, hugging and smiling. I fall into the latter category - mainly! :) (Although I DO love dramas and participate whenever there is a chance - that is almost everyday!) Then we close the meeting and pray for everyone who decided to accept Christ and then we move on to the next location. But this is just logistics....

Guess what is the age of the majority? Yeah, you got it - under 12's! And boy, there are so many of them! One day we had about 30-40 people above the age of 12 and the rest were younger than that - and over 5oo kids!!! Wow! We were all quite busy - keep in mind that we were only about 18 at that time. But God gave us mercy - so much mercy!..

I hugged almost everyone there - if a kid would pass me throwing glances on my so-very-unusually-pale face (remember, this is Africa) I would simply extend my hand to them and shake their palm, or hug them if they wanted to. About 200 - 300 hugs per day, beat that!! My clothes were so dusty eventually I had to wash them so very often! But I was so happy!! In some unknown way i felt that God was working through me, through every hug that I gave out to those kids, and still will be giving out. I am not a very good preacher, although I did get a privilege last week to share my life testimony in front of 2000 high school children! But I had been praying about knowing the heart of God so much! And now, through our ministry, I see how God has faithfully been answering that prayer! :) Whenever I would look at those kids through my soul's eyes, I would see dirty, naughty kids, some of them malformed due to their moms abusing drugs and alcohol. The sight used to repel me. but now I can no longer find a trace of that resentment - on the contrary, whenever I look at a kid like that, tears fill my eyes... I feel the pain of Jesus for this broken world, for the lives of these broken and discarded kids, where many of them live without ever knowing their parents. Jesus loves them so much - and who am I to deny them a hug if God Himself wants to do it so badly. I asked for God's heart to be my heart - and here are the consequences: I am receiving a Christ-like attitude and it reflects even in my ministries now!

And I simply cannot describe it when the love of god that flows to these poor kids through me returns to me from them! It is a feeling of deep softness, satisfaction and joy, beyond what any words can describe. They do not need words to express their gratitude for the love they receive through us - they just receive it, and that in itself is a huge gratification for us.

One event I will never forget for the rest of my life - how God used me and how I saw God and his Hand when His perfect Love returned to me tenfold from where I have sown it. We went to a primary school and there played with preschool kids as a part of our ministry. Boy, they have so much energy I thought, as I watched them climb about on their little wooden poles and swings. There was a little platform and they all climbed on top of it. from there the kids were one by one jumping into my arms, as i was catching them with almost no effort. Why,they were so teeny tiny! Whether it was malnutrition or genetics, they were simply beautiful with their cute little faces full of excitement, as they jumped with outstretched arms, fully confident that I will safely catch them. After about 100 catches i grew weary and my back needed some rest. (I will never ever have more than a dozen kids in my family, I swear!!) As i announced that I was tired and needed rest, all sweaty and dusty in the hot sun, the kids took my hand and led me to a shade under a nearby wooden platform. There I lied down on my back looking at the skies. And then the kids gathered around me, and began admiring my blue eyes and light hair. Suddenly one of them noticed that my whole face was covered with sweat and dust and gently began wiping it off with her little palms. Soon others joined in and were cleaning my face...

That was the moment when I heard the voice of god speaking to me so clearly, I almost began to cry right there and then! I thought that the best lesson I learned today was the one about the faith of these children in my arms, being a shadow that we as Christians ought to have in the arms of Jesus. But the message that came across as I laid on the grass was so much more profound! I realized that, although I was not a great preacher or a very strong muscular hunk, i still gave these kids all that i had, even if it meant standing in the sun for a whole hour, catching them again and again, as they were continuously returning to the platform. That was a sacrifice for me, I knew that, it was all I could give them back then. And now, they were giving me all that they could offer, even if it was only caressing my face, wiping it clean with their tiny hands. So does one hand wash another, and so must one member of the Body of Christ care for another, with all they have, any time, any day and not holding anything back. i learned this lesson from God through those little preschool kids who were so poor the whole society discarded them as hopeless. Truly God uses the weak and the poor to bring to shame the strong and the rich (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-29). and if I would be so foolish as not to reach out to those kids, I would have missed the presence of the Most High God, because He is in everything, reaching out to us with His Eternal Love and Compassion. Those who have eyes - oh, Jesus, let them all see You everywhere You are! :)