"Life isn't Fair!"
How many times have we heard this complaint from little ones who feel the sting of losing out? How many times has our own spirit muddled in frustration over circumstances that just 'wouldn't have to be' if life was fair...all the while knowing that life truely never is fair.
We have the head knowledge but our heart still longs for justice.
As I contemplated what to share with you in this newsletter we received a phone call from friends in Tegucigalpa. It was a phone call that one never wants to receive. It was a phone call that would never have to be made if life was fair.
Kevin was a quiet little boy whom we first got to know when we began our work at AFE. He was rarely seen with a clean face. His soleful eyes were void of purpose and heart-breakingly empty. His home, his caretakers, his daily existence revolved around life in the dump.
But life began to change for Kevin when he enrolled in kindergarten at AFE. His smile was infrequent at first, but he learned what it was like to hold a crayon and color a picture. Despite a speech impediment that seemed to keep him a boy of few words, he learned to read and write. In a couple short years Kevin's eyes began to shine with excitement and purpose. He loved to be in the midst of work team members giving hugs and working on construction projects. His sense of responsibility at the tender age of 7 was evident as he was often found collecting discarded paper products around the school to take home for the family recycling efforts and income source. Kevin was an eager helper for those around him, and in the words of one of his teachers, "won the love of many".
The injustice of children working in the dump meant that on Jan 16th, Kevin's young life was lost beneath the wheels of a dump truck as he worked among the garbage. He leaves behind a mother and five younger siblings, along with his grandparents who were love and consistency in his life.
There is nothing you and I can do to rectify the 'unfairness' of what has happened to Kevin. But it can remind us, challenge us....no, SCREAM at us to face the reality of life's inequity that much of the world's impovershed population lives daily. How am I sacrificing my life, to make life better for someone in need? When God calls me to love my neighbor as myself, is that just a pleasant thought or does it motivate my every action? This is a call to prayer. Will you pray for the comfort of Kevin's family? Will you pray that God will fashion beauty out of this pain? I don't know about you, but I need to be reminded that there is a world of hurt, waiting for the love of God to cover the pain, to rectify the wrong and to make something beautiful out of the broken. I don't ever want to receive phone calls like this while living oblivious to others' need. We can't solve the world's problems, but we can make a difference in the lives of those God brings to our paths.
We serve an awesome God who is able to do any and all things. But He asks us to join Him. Am I willing? Are you willing?
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