I did know. I have been coming here for over seventeen years, and the children that live here have a way of embedding themselves in your heart. You leave thinking you have to come back and see them again, check on them, make sure that their lives are going ok, make sure they've heard about Jesus.
Some of the kids were the ones we saw at Christmas time. The sweet shyness of the Christmas store has turned into summer fun and smiles. They've matured, gotten taller, changed a little.
They're here at the mission for summer camp. They've come almost every day for the past four and a half weeks. They play together, hear Bible stories, do crafts, memorize Scripture, and sing praises.
Oh, the singing!
I've never heard anything like it. Not from children anyway. These mostly unchurched kids from broken homes who know about drugs, alcohol, and sex long before they ever should, sing from somewhere deep inside their hearts to Jesus. With volume and passion they sing
And it's beautiful.
Oh, the singing!
I've never heard anything like it. Not from children anyway. These mostly unchurched kids from broken homes who know about drugs, alcohol, and sex long before they ever should, sing from somewhere deep inside their hearts to Jesus. With volume and passion they sing
And it's beautiful.
I know heaven must sit still when they are singing, because I can't move.
And God smiles.
I'm sure of it. Because these same kids that get in our hearts after a few days, so that we can't forget them, are that much more in the heart of the King of Kings! The empathy we feel as we spend time with them is nothing compared to the love and care God feels for these precious ones! He cares about them so much He had sent His people to take care of them!
God hasn't forgotten them. They are embedded in His heart.
The call has been answered - through a Christian school, through summer camp, through birthday celebrations, (Karen and the girls make sure not one birthday is forgotten, even if it's forgotten at home), through the Christmas store, through much needed food, through hugs, through listening ears, through the mission building that provides needs, through the Gospel message that gets taught year round.
Through five missionaries that help make it all happen because they have a heart like Christ's.
God hasn't forgotten them. They are embedded in His heart.
The call has been answered - through a Christian school, through summer camp, through birthday celebrations, (Karen and the girls make sure not one birthday is forgotten, even if it's forgotten at home), through the Christmas store, through much needed food, through hugs, through listening ears, through the mission building that provides needs, through the Gospel message that gets taught year round.
Through five missionaries that help make it all happen because they have a heart like Christ's.
These missionaries living here sometimes don't see it like those of us who come and go. Change is more obvious when you're not in the middle of the everyday.
But change has happened.
The teens that have volunteered to work at summer camp this year don't fight and argue like they used to. They're helpful and kind and work hard. You see, they've been coming to summer camp since they were babies and hearing about a Jesus who changes lives every year. You can't hear that message summer after summer without it changing you.
The streets are better. The crime is less. If you had seen the project housing seventeen years ago, you wouldn't recognize it today because it's so much nicer. Where there used to be multiple policemen, there is now one. There's not trash everywhere. Neighbors are helping neighbors. Kids are graduating from high school. More people are working. Between twenty-five and forty women come every week to a Bible study at the school. They're not comfortable enough to come to church, but they come here and learn about a God who can change their family. Kids I knew seventeen years ago, who got saved through this mission are grown up and are wonderful parents to their own children.
Change. It's happening.
It's happening because of the faithfulness of five people answering a call to obey and serve Christ.
Faithfulness.
But what about us? What about me? We're not all called to drop our life and pour our everything into a community.
But we're all called to serve.
Service to our families, service to our neighborhoods, service to our churches, service to our communities, service in helping those who are giving everything.
Service with a heart that's beating with the very beat of the Gospel of Jesus.
Because that's where change comes from.
The Gospel is the hope of people everywhere. That's it. We can bring hope; we can bring change; we can make a difference. I've seen it happen.
It's Jesus Christ, the hope of the world.
And what a privilege to be His servant!
Remember the children of Galloway, and pray for them. And the children in your home, the children in your neighborhood, the children in your city, the children in your country, and the children in your world.
May we never tire, may we never quit, may we never give up. Because there is always hope.
But we're all called to serve.
Service to our families, service to our neighborhoods, service to our churches, service to our communities, service in helping those who are giving everything.
Service with a heart that's beating with the very beat of the Gospel of Jesus.
Because that's where change comes from.
The Gospel is the hope of people everywhere. That's it. We can bring hope; we can bring change; we can make a difference. I've seen it happen.
It's Jesus Christ, the hope of the world.
And what a privilege to be His servant!
Remember the children of Galloway, and pray for them. And the children in your home, the children in your neighborhood, the children in your city, the children in your country, and the children in your world.
May we never tire, may we never quit, may we never give up. Because there is always hope.
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