Who Am I?

Who am I to be born into a life where I have anything I could ever want and more? I can buy things that I don't need, sit luxuriously in coffee shops, and go to bed at night knowing that there is really little chance that my perfect little world is going to change. It is incredible how the geographic location of where you're born can so strongly determine your life.

Recently I have met people whose lives are subject to change every day. I don't know all of their stories and I am sure each is very different. I have met people from Iran fleeing a harsh government and from Iraq whose country has been ravaged by war. There are people from Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Eritrea. In the words of an Ethiopian woman I met, "I pray and ask God why Africa has so much trouble. Why us? I don't know. But I trust God." It sickens me that these people had to leave their land, their country, their home because it is unsafe or unbearable to live there. I rejoice that they were able to move to a safer place but my heart breaks that they had to leave at all. I know that in the beginning God created a perfect world without any of the pain and suffering that is rampant today. I know that He is the only constant in this world of brokenness and uncertainty. I don't know the answer to that woman's question. I only know for certain that Christ is the healer of all hurt, pain, and brokenness. This is the one infallible truth. So many people present the Gospel as just a way to heaven but is so much more! It is a chance to be restored to what God intended us to be. It provides a way to have a relationship with the Creator of the world and find peace and joy in Him.

Tonight I was able to go to the refugee camp again. I played soccer with the children. Oh how I loved seeing their smiles and hearing their laughter! I think their favorite thing to do is laugh at me! Everything I do is a bit funny to them for some reason. But that's what I want to do! I want to be there with them and to find joy in playing soccer, swinging, or drawing with sidewalk chalk. I want to love these precious children that God has made and who He loves so much. I want to love them with Christ's love. This is truly the desire of my heart. Many of these children have had more trauma in their lives than I can even imagine. Just the fact that they had to leave their country and be thrown into a new language at such a young age. I praise God that I have the opportunity and the privilege to know them and hopefully be a blessing to them. And I pray that God will give me opportunities to do this for the rest of my life.