Long Day...

It's been a long day, back here at home.

And I wonder how the Women of Purpose are doing today. Was it a long day? How was the work? Who did God place in their path?

I recall some of the people I've met, especially during my trips to Peru and Honduras. The people that were most memorable were the children. I remember the beggar children on the streets of Lima, selling candy, or just wanting payment for a smile as I took a photograph. I remember the shy girl who was alone at the school we worked at in the shanty suburbs of Trujillo. I remember the little boy, with the plastic bag full of Inca Cola in the dirt town of Chao, Peru.

Mostly, though, I remember two boys in a school on the far side of La Isla de Tigre. (My thanks to "the tiny american" for the photos. And, I found this nice travel story at: http://www.marrder.com/htw/aug96/travel.htm) Tiger Island is off the Pacific coast of Honduras. We had traveled there in the days following Hurricane Mitch, 1998, a medical mission team of five, working with World Vision. The mountainside near our makeshift clinic had been washed away, in big ribbons of brown that looked like the work of bulldozers. We were meeting many people who had been touched by the hurricane, losing family, friends and possessions. It was a typical clinic setting for us, as we traveled from village to village. We were in a small, dark, concrete room, hot with sweat, serving as best we could. As usual, little kids pushed up against the windows to peer inside, to get a look at "the blue-eyed doctor". (For those who know me, you know I have brown eyes, but as a white guy from EEUU, I had earned this nickname.)

As I worked, I looked over to see Steve, our interpreter, kneeling with a couple of boys, about ten years old. (Steve is a great servant of our Lord, working as a full-time missionary in Mexico. He grew up in Poulsbo. His ministry blog is found here: www.thesilbermans.blogspot.com) Steve was listening intently to a small voice. And, then, above the noise of the room, I heard Steve say, "Jesus, ayuda me." - "Jesus, help me." He was praying with these young boys.

It was later that Steve told me the rest of the story. These boys were afraid to go to sleep. They heard the rumbling of the mountainside falling down toward the sea. And, they were afraid that if they went to sleep, it would happen again.

Steve, with the compassion put in his heart by our Lord, shared a quiet prayer with these young boys. It was worth the whole trip to have done only this.

The work of the Women of Purpose is aimed at strengthening families, and helping mothers protect their children from th evil one. I know this compassion comes from Him...

Matthew 18

The Greatest in the Kingdom

1 About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
2 Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. 3 Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

5 “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf[a] is welcoming me. 6 But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. ...

10 ... “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.

- New Living Translation

Lord, I thank you for the compassion that you have impressed upon the hearts of this team, for the children of Bolivia. Be with the Women of Purpose as they encounter your little ones, that they will see You in them.

Amen