Even with my less-than-ideal Spanish skills I was able to hear the desperation in the worker’s voice. The child needs to be removed from the home, but the judge will not order the removal unless they have a place for him to go. We are the only home in the area that is equipped to care for children with special needs, so they called.
“We have no where else to put him,¨ she told me. “Will you please help him?”
We had decided not to take any more children. Due to the needs of the children in our home, we have felt that our plate (and budget) is full. We are facing a season in which we will be losing several volunteers and our board just voted this morning to hire another full-time nanny to help fill the gap. So, based on that, the call should have ended with a polite “I’m sorry, but no.” But it didn’t.
I have learned to say “No,” and I say it a lot. I say it to additions to my already full schedule. I say it to drunk men who come to our door. I say it to dozens of people each month who seek nothing more than a handout to enable their lifestyle. I say it when well meaning people try to give me advise without understanding the situation. But I haven’t learned how to say that word in a situation like this.
How do I say “No” to a child who is starving? How do I say “No” when I realize that it will likely mean a child will suffer and die? In this situation, how do I say “No” without sending Jesus away without help? I honestly don’t know.
In these kinds of situations I am haunted by the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:45. They are spoken at the end of his sheep and goats prophecy and are a sobering reminder of our responsibilities and privileges:
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'”
I never want to leave Jesus (in the form of these children) hungry, thirsty, naked, sick or in prison without intervening. I never want to allow him to starve today in filth and poverty, and I believe that a “No” from me today would have done just that.
So, I spoke with Wanda and my children. They don’t know how to say “No” in this situation either. As a result, another child will be joining our home. He will likely come Friday or Monday, depending on how fast the courts move. Tomorrow is a national holiday and the judges have already left for today, so the courts will move for no man for the next 40 hours. Please pray that they will work quickly on Friday morning so we can begin to get this child the help he needs. Please pray for God’s continued provision for this home and ministry.
Please pray that God will continue to give us wisdom to know when to say “No” and when to say “Yes!” It is not an easy decision to make. And please pray that we never send Jesus away with a careless “No.”
Daryl, Wanda and the Crew
