“I want to go where you are,” she said and I knew she meant she wanted to go home with me. My first thought was, This is a result of the children calling me Jaaja (grandmother). They now think I am their grandmother and I’m here to take care of them.
I had spent the entire week at the ‘Children's Healing Camp’ with my small group of children, 6 in all, and she was not one of them. In fact I never met her before and yet she had the courage to come up to me, a stranger, and ask me to take her home.
I wondered how bad her life was that she was willing to place her hope and trust in a total stranger rather than her own family.
Reluctantly I had to explain to her that I could not take her home (though I wanted to). She looked downcast as she turned to walk away.
There’s always one more child to help; one more that needs Jaaja’s love. I keep reaching for them with my heart first and then what ever resources I can find. It doesn’t matter to me how many come because my God has an endless supply and He wants to meet their needs. But we are His hands and arms extended in love to these kids.
They need grandmothers, grandfathers, moms, dads, people who will love them and care for them so they can be a child. Too many of them have to do grown up things like earn money to care for their younger siblings. Too many of them have grown up worries like finding the money to pay school fees. Too many of them have seen tragedy throughout their life as parents and other relatives die to AIDS or other diseases.
The Healing Camp was a great blessing to these kids giving them a chance to talk about their feelings, their hurts, their grief, and helping them find comfort in God’s Word and the healing touch of Jesus Christ through our arms extended.
Thank you for your help in meeting the needs of these precious children. I have said it before and I say it again – DON’T STOP.
If you would like to learn more about the Friends of TOUCH ministry or would like to sponsor one of these great kids, log on to http://www.friendsoftouch.org and click ‘Sponsor a Child’ or click ‘Giving’ for other opportunities to help.
Jaaja Denise
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Orphan Summit
Earlier this month, I attended the Orphan Summit in Louisville, Kentucky. As always, Summit was filled with great information and resources for foster care, adoption, and global orphan care. An added plus - I got to see a lot of my Facebook friends in person.
Through a late change in scheduling, I ended up traveling to Summit alone, driving ten hours each way with just me and God and my mp3 player rolling through the beautiful mountains of West Virginia and the green horse country.
I picked out an audio book to listen to on the way -Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich. I knew only a little about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I knew he was a preacher, and I knew he was involved in a plot to kill Hitler. I figured there would be enough intrigue at least to keep me awake.
What I did not know, was that Bonhoeffer's theology was largely shaped while working with children. While serving in Barcelona, he built the children's ministry from the ground up.
"…in Bonhoeffer’s first Sunday, the children’s congregation consisted of one girl. In his diary, Bonhoeffer wrote, “That will have to improve.” It did. His winning personality made a good impression, and the next week fifteen students came. He visited the homes of all fifteen that week, and the next Sunday, there were thirty. From then on, there were always thirty or more in every service."
Bonhoeffer involved himself in the lives of the children. He visited their homes. Back in Berlin, he did the same with a tough, hardened group of teen boys who had run off all their previous teachers. With all of his formal training, his work with children helped develop his understanding that faith is more than a mental exercise.
One of the many great things about Summit is that it helps equip us to live our faith. Each year, the Summit grows in attendance and in the wealth of information offered. Ministries, non-profits, churches, and individuals unite with one purpose in mind - to honor God by caring for the fatherless.
Hands-on, dirty, time-consuming, costly, committed, sacrificial faith is at the core of ministry to children. We are "Throwing ourselves completely into the arms of God" - what a wonderful place to be.
Through a late change in scheduling, I ended up traveling to Summit alone, driving ten hours each way with just me and God and my mp3 player rolling through the beautiful mountains of West Virginia and the green horse country.
I picked out an audio book to listen to on the way -Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich. I knew only a little about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I knew he was a preacher, and I knew he was involved in a plot to kill Hitler. I figured there would be enough intrigue at least to keep me awake.
What I did not know, was that Bonhoeffer's theology was largely shaped while working with children. While serving in Barcelona, he built the children's ministry from the ground up.
"…in Bonhoeffer’s first Sunday, the children’s congregation consisted of one girl. In his diary, Bonhoeffer wrote, “That will have to improve.” It did. His winning personality made a good impression, and the next week fifteen students came. He visited the homes of all fifteen that week, and the next Sunday, there were thirty. From then on, there were always thirty or more in every service."
Bonhoeffer involved himself in the lives of the children. He visited their homes. Back in Berlin, he did the same with a tough, hardened group of teen boys who had run off all their previous teachers. With all of his formal training, his work with children helped develop his understanding that faith is more than a mental exercise.
"I discovered later, and I'm still discovering right up to this moment, that is it only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world. That, I think, is faith."
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
One of the many great things about Summit is that it helps equip us to live our faith. Each year, the Summit grows in attendance and in the wealth of information offered. Ministries, non-profits, churches, and individuals unite with one purpose in mind - to honor God by caring for the fatherless.
Hands-on, dirty, time-consuming, costly, committed, sacrificial faith is at the core of ministry to children. We are "Throwing ourselves completely into the arms of God" - what a wonderful place to be.
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