This is Why… “Lest We Forget”

This is why.

This picture is why. And all the pictures like it.

It’s the definition of poverty. The definition of hopelessness.

Can you see it in their eyes?

The far-off stare of the mother? A mother who was abandoned by her husband and left to fend for three children without any means to do so. A mother who begs for scraps every day just to keep her family alive.

The blank, nearly emotionless and lost look in the eyes of the children? Young eyes that have cried too much; and now the tears are gone because they were pointless tears that brought no resolution to their cause. Young eyes that cannot read. Eyes that have never even seen a book. Minds stunted from a lack of stimulus and a lack of education.

None of them have ever set foot inside a school. They are just too dirty and infested with bugs and are not allowed.

Tattered clothing that bears ironic symbols of an affluent country far away. Tattered clothing covered in filth from sleeping on a dirt floor night after night.

Toes without any toenails. Deformed and full of infection. The fingers are not as bad; but almost.

Can you see it? This is why.

A tiny square room of dried mud is their home. A place made for animals. Just four walls and a few dozen square feet of dirt, filled with bugs and bacteria. There are no beds. Just rags to lay their heads on. The rusted and tattered metal roof leaks when it rains and the wind blows through the empty space where a door should be. A pair of muck boots sitting on the floor and a couple of items sitting on a shelf formed into the mud wall constitute the sum total of their wealth.

There is no wash tub. No dishes. No utensils. No bathroom. Everything you see is everything there is.

This is why.

Over the years as our programs have grown, you have watched children grow to young adults in warm, loving and clean environments. You have watched them marching to school in clean, crisp uniforms; with shiny hair and bright, white smiles. Eyes that are filled with the satisfaction of a full belly and the hope of a new day.

You have watched as they grew into young adults, their minds filled with the knowledge of man’s education and the knowledge of God’s education through His Word. You watched them grow into young adults who know Jesus and the steps to salvation. From the cradle to college and even beyond, you have watched them grow and prosper, some now with families of their own. Families who won’t have to suffer as they did.

You watched. And you made it happen in God’s name. You gave the fatherless a family on earth and the comfort of knowing they have a Father in Heaven.

But lest we forget, this picture is why.

This picture is how we find all of those beautiful little children you see in our newsletters and on our Facebook pages.

Not all of them are in this bad of shape when we find them. Not yet. But given time, they would be. Given time, they would look like this or simply be gone. Just a fading memory in someone’s mind. A life unlived, untested and unfulfilled simply because not enough people cared to seek them out. Or simply didn’t know that such poverty and hopelessness still exist in our world.

Because it shouldn’t.

But we also know that it always will. God’s Word tells us that there will always be orphans and widows as sure as there will always be wars and rumors of wars.

And we know it is true because He said it and we see it every day.

I’ve been doing this for more than 22 years now and so one might think that I wouldn’t need a reminder of the “why.” But even I do. I do because over the years I’ve grown accustomed to focusing on the success we have had with the thousands of children we have cared for. So many young lives have been saved and forever changed. It’s easy to get a warm and fuzzy feeling from that. And that is certainly not a bad thing! Everyone involved in this mission should get a warm and fuzzy feeling when we consider the good that has been done and the lives that have been saved and forever changed. There are entire communities where a generation of fatherless children have been saved.

But then a couple of weeks ago, I received an email with this picture attached from Kenya. The email was an emergency request from Harrison, who is the Director of Acts of Charity. You’ve read about our work there with him. Already we’ve built 15 homes there and are caring for over 80 orphan children and 15 orphan/widow families. That’s in just two, short years.

When I received the email and opened the attached picture, I just sat there for a long moment and stared at it. It was hard to look at and still is. Which is also why it is now the screensaver on my computer. And after that long moment of staring at that heartbreaking picture, three words settled in my mind.

“This. Is. Why.”

The holiday season is upon us here in these United States. Thanksgiving and Christmas, closely followed by New Year’s Day.

It’s a time of family gatherings. A time of sharing and giving and celebrating the beginning of a new year. For most, it is a time of joy.

But there are those out there who will be suffering throughout those same days. Suffering alone without hope. And so, I ask that you take a moment during the holidays and just pray for the families out there like this one. The ones without hope or joy.

All of you involved in this mission already do so much for children just like these. But there are those among us who might not even know how to help. So, say a prayer. Pass on this newsletter to a family member or friend. Perhaps a co-worker. Let them know about the need and the opportunity to help. Let them know how they can change this world.

Because this is why we are called to “come to the aid of orphans and widows in their time of need.”

It is because God loves them and without us they have no hope. Without us “the least of these” don’t stand a chance. It’s that simple. It’s that sad.

But I can’t leave it there because this mission is about giving hope.

The family in this picture will spend this Christmas in a new home already being built for them as you read this newsletter. They will eat Christmas dinner on a new table and from plates, not from their hands or the dirt floor. They will sleep in warm beds. Their fingers and toes will be well on their way to being healed from the treatments and medicine they have been given. On Christmas morning they will all open the gifts you have given them and it will be for the very first time in their lives.  And they can burn the rags they are wearing because they will all be dressed in new clothes.

They will lay down their heads on soft pillows on New Year’s Eve and wake to a New Year in which there is hope.

And they will know that it is because of God for it is all done in His name and because of the example of His son Jesus.

Lest we forget…This. Is. Why.