Our youth play a game on Facebook called "truth is..." One person writes "truth is" as their status and other people "like" that status. Then the youth goes to the "walls/timelines" of all the people who "liked" the status and writes one truth about that person. Quite often these "truths" seem arbitrary to us adults who read them (something along the lines of "truth is...you're cool and we should hang out more) but they mean something to the kids in their adolescent worlds. Our youth don't know of the suffering of children in other parts of the world. Youth that face much harder "truths" than whether or not a boy or girl likes them.
I (Jennifer) am reading Kisses From Katie right now. It's a book about a young girl from Tennessee who is a missionary in Uganda. She has adopted 14 girls and has written her testimony of how God is working in Uganda. Some of the stories are heart breaking and will make any Mama want to fly over there right now and help these children. In her book, Katie has some excerpts from her journal. One journal entry tells lots of truths about life in Uganda.
Amazima (the name of Katie's non-profit organization), in Luganda, means "the truth."
Here are Katie's "truths."
"I have a young friend named Maria. The truth is that Maria had never had a bath before I took her home and gave her one. The truth is that Maria has no one who cares for her. No one who tells her she is loved. The truth is that Maria is sent from her home in the slum outside of Jinja to beg on the streets for food, and no one in Uganda wants to touch her or help her or cares that she is sick. The truth is that Maria is just like you or me. A person. Real. A child of the King.
Meet Rose and Brenda. The truth is that they are orphans, abandoned and living in an orphanage. Now two of 143 million. The truth is that when they go to bed at night no one tucks their blankets in around them and kisses their foreheads. The truth is that when they wake up, frightened, in the dark, no one runs to comfort them. The truth is that due to someone else's carelessness, Brenda will die of AIDS.
Meet David and Bashir. The truth is that these precious little boys were soldiers, abducted, sold as property, and forced to kill. Now that the war is winding down, they are not permitted back in their villages because they are seen as traitors, so they beg on the streets.
And the truth is that theses are only the children I know, in a very small fraction of a very small country. The truth is that there are children like this all over the world, sick, starving, dying, unloved and uncared for. The truth is that the 143 million orphaned children and the 11 million who starve to death or die from preventable diseases and the 8.5 million who work as child slaves, prostitutes, or under other horrific conditions and the 2.3 million who live with HIV add up to 164.8 million needy children. And though at first glance that looks like a big number, 2.1 billion people on this earth claim to be Christians.
The truth is that if only 8 percent of the Christians would care for one more child, there would not be any statistics left. This is the truth. I have the freedom to believe it. The freedom, the opportunity to do something about it. The truth is that He loves these children just as much as He loves me and now that I know, I am responsible."
-Katie Davis
She says it better than I can in my blog entry "A voice for the Fatherless." She has seen these children with her own eyes. She has helped care for them when no one else would. These truths are a reality for her. I have only read about them. I can only imagine what it's like. But what she has seen is a reality for our children, whoever they are. They are in a small orphanage with Christian people so they are seeing some of God's love. But it's not possible for a few adults to take care of 15-20 children with the same love and attention that we will be able to give them. I cannot wait to bring home our children so I can show them the Truth of the Father who loves them more than Morgan & I ever could.
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2 comments:
all are blessed. I can never tell you both .......how much this means to me. LOVE. truthfully, when I visited the orphanage where your boys are.....I put a wall up around my heart.....I could not take it all in at one time. God continues to reveal things to me about my time in Uganda. His Spirit shows me little bites at a time. It's almost like I can hear Him whisper "Ugandans are becoming Christians" . The Ugandans I met are strong in their faith. Unashamed of the Gospel. truly in love with Him. they want all their neighbors, family, friends, and strangers to hear His gospel. They share His love. they are on fire for Christ. Witchdoctors are pacing, I'm sure. I'm sharing about the children of Uganda to the children at First baptist church in soddy daisy and will be preparing tomorrow on what to tell them. I will share with you also. Please know your church family is praying for your family of four.
If you don't mind, I will tell them that you are adopting two brothers and maybe someday they could meet them. they are going to send pics and write letters to the children....some letters/pics could go to the church/school where I visited and some could go to the orphanage where your boys are. The children at soddy daisy baptist have been studying uganda all month on sunday nights. Each month they study about different areas of this country and other parts of the world. Do you mind if I tell them about donating items by the end of the month? Your're welcome to come and tell them yourself.....thought I should ask you first.
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