While in Zimbabwe, I was asking all sorts of questions. I remember my friend John telling me that the local government drops kids off at the gate of the children home and they drive away! Why? Because these kids are homeless, their parents have died, or they are so poor they choose to let their kids go to a children home. With a burden so deep, but a smile so at peace, John informed me that many times they must refuse the kids a place to sleep, food to eat and a community of love.

John went on to tell me what happens to the kids that they can’t house. Basically, they sleep in the fields…alone….8 year-old’s care for their younger siblings…so painful….to think that a kid the age of my daughter, has to care for a younger sibling. If you want to see what this looks like in real life, watch this video.

Before I heard this story, I was wondering how these kids could be so happy living in an orphanage with so many things lacking. They knew something I did not know. they knew the alternative could be “the fields” or the bench or a local park. They knew they were blessed…blessed to have food, blessed to have a bed, blessed to have a community.

I’m not trying to be over-dramatic. Just a reminder that real people live in situations that are brutal. Yet, something can be done. We can choose to love, we can love by sacrificing. Not because we feel guilty, rather we choose to sacrifice because we choose to love, and when we choose to love we worship God. This worship is far deeper than any Sunday experience or another weekly Bible study. When we give, we begin to fully become alive, and believe it or not, many kids will live because of your love and compassion.

Pics taken from this blog.

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