Once again, I find myself blessed with an incredible team of 11 other people who are doing a fantastic job of loving the kids of Hermano Pedro. Each one of them has shown great wisdom in embracing children who most need their love and attention, and I am truly grateful to God for bringing them here.
Today, after a wonderful worship service at Iglesia del Camino, we had lunch with my friends, the Derstines, who recently moved here to minister. It was great to hear about their transition and God’s direction on their lives. Then they accompanied us to Hermano Pedro where we orchestrated another “jail break” and gathered the kids in the courtyard for fun, balloons, and bubbles. By late afternoon we had liberated 27 children who had a great time.
At one point during this time, I walked through the two wards that are next to the courtyard. During that stroll, I realized that there were still 32 children in their cribs. At that point, I faced a choice…do I try to bring more children outside or do I simply focus on giving attention to the ones who are already out? I realized that the greatest needs of all these children were not fresh air and sunshine, but rather love and attention. So, I chose to sit down and love the children who were already out.
I confess, I still don’t know if I made the right choice. I guess the answer would change depending on which child you asked. The few children I ended up holding would likely say my decision was right, while the ones left in their cages would undoubtedly say I was wrong. Regardless of the correctness of my actions, there were a lot of children who spent the afternoon in loneliness. And remember, those 32 children of which I speak only represent the ones in those two wards. It doesn’t account for the little ones in the malnutrition ward, the ladies’ ward or the men’s ward. There are around 240 residents of Hermano Pedro, which means there were around 213 to whom we did not give our attention today.
Add to that the awareness that Hermano Pedro is just one of many orphanages in Guatemala filled with children who need attention. And there are very few people who are actually trying to reach out to them.
All of this has left me feeling overwhelmed and very ineffective. Even with the great team of people with which I am working this week, we are only making a small ripple in a very large ocean. Is it even worth it?
But, of course, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” It is worth it. I know, because I saw the value in the faces of the children that made it to the courtyard today. For Delmi, Beberly, Ervin, Big Melvin, Louis Andreas, Patricia, Roberto, Diego, and 19 others it was definitely worth it. And tomorrow we will go back and make it worthwhile for more.
And, while we do, we will pray for more and more Christ-followers to come to this place and others like it and make it worthwhile for more and more children. And maybe, eventually, there will be no more children left in cages. Oh, please Lord, let this dream become reality! Let you kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!
