A touch...can make the difference!

This information is from the latest Make Way Partners ~ Wednesday Report (2/2/11):

As most of you know, we have a short-term mission team on the ground at Hope for Sudan right now. I am speaking with Matt, the team leader, every day or two. He tells me the team is making the necessary adjustments which include many opportunities for practicing flexibility, and making tough decisions like “Should I eat a protein or energy bar for supper?”

Currently, we have 32 orphans at Hope for Sudan. Just a few weeks ago, these precious children were literally fighting for their lives, sleeping in the bush, drinking from mud puddles, and picking leaves to eat. In VBS on Monday, they held crayons for the first time in their lives!

Images of Michelangelo’s, The Hand of God, in the Sistine Chapel colored my mind as I listened to Matt tell me the crayon version of God’s Hand reaching down to us.

Imagine being 5 or 6 and never having slept inside a house, much less have your own bed. Now imagine having to climb trees to pick leaves so that you had something to stew on the fire you built outside using animal feces for fuel. Of course, you drink from mud puddles, if you’re lucky, and squat in the bush to relieve yourself since you don’t even have a latrine.

But then, one day your whole life changes in an instant because some preacher (our indigenous director, Romano) picks you up and carries you into the Hope for Sudan orphanage. Women bring you food, more than your tiny stomach can eat at first. Romano tells you, “Not only I love you, but Jesus does, too, and He is the one who sent me to you.” Your whole world begins to change.

But just when you think it couldn’t get any better, a whole pack of Americans get off a plane and start smiling at you, telling you that you are beautiful, hugging you, and playing games with you!

Well, you just might think, “God has surely come to earth, and She has landed right here in Hope for Sudan because She is holding my little hand so that I know how to connect the dots with this thing that makes beautiful red, blue, or even pink marks on my paper.”

In an instant, theological debates about the color, gender, race, or origin of God are reduced to love reaching down to you. You. You and God touching. Your life is forever changed because God has touched you.

That’s what being the Body of Christ is all about. Being His Hands, Feet, Breath…whatever is needed, we allow Him to flow it through our very beings, the broken alabaster jar…with all it’s worth poured out.

When the VBS teachers saw that the little ones had caught on and knew how to hold the crayon, they stood up proud and let loose the children’s hands. Immediately, every little hand flew back up…reaching for God—just for the touch.