Reality Check

I've been going to a local school on Sunday mornings to help with a Sunday School program run by a few teachers and some of the Bethany students. Last Sunday, we went on a special field trip with all of the students that board at the school, about 50 of them grades kindergarten through 8th but ranging from 4 to 18 years old.


The kids started singing the minute the bus started moving and didn't stop till they were all off the bus; they sang every worship song I've heard since being here and a whole lot more I'd never heard! We took the school's bus about ten minutes into the bush to visit the local radio broadcast center, which is some exciting technology for these parts!

The technician gave them a tour around the facilities, showing them the different dials and transformers, then we ate lunch outside in the shade. I had been wondering how they planned to feed 60 people out in the bush (it's not as simple as making some sandwiches, first of all they don't really eat bread or sandwiches here!), when they brought out Meals Ready to Eat from the good old USA! They told the kids not to use the self-heating pack for fear that one of the small ones could do some damage, so we just ate the peanut butter, crackers and cookies.


After we ate, all of the adults went off to the side to plan the teaching schedule for the Sunday School lessons and the kids started cleaning up on their own initiative. As our meeting ended, I wandered back over to a group of kids at the end of the building and started taking pictures before they saw the camera and went wild. I noticed some of the guys were missing and wondered what mischief they were getting into. I turned to ask one of the other boys if he knew where they were when I saw them.

About 10 boys were lined up along the wall of a building facing Mecca doing the mid-day prayer of Islam. It was shocking. I felt simultaneous sorrow and anger rise up in me and I wished I could go hide in a prayer room for a while. These kids who moments before had been singing songs about Jesus were now bowing and chanting to Allah.

What a contradiction and what a wake up call. I had become comfortable and relaxed so quickly that I had honestly forgotten my purpose among them. Despite their outward joy and life and even though they are sometimes bold enough to come to Sunday School, at their core these kids are Muslims and it will take a miracle to save them.

I felt like crying at the realization that the yoke of slavery is still so tight after so much exposure to the light in their school. I wanted to cry out in frustration that the enemy has successfully blinded so many and as a result these precious ones are caught between darkness and light, slavery and freedom, death and life. But instead I just sighed a very deep prayer to God and waited for them to finish.

As they wrapped up and put their shoes back on, I started taking pictures as they boys walked toward me. The last two to walk by have been heavily on my heart and God gave me a glimpse of the vastness of his plans as I watched them. One of the boys is about 16 or 17 and ten years ago a local missionary rescued him from crocodiles that were attacking him in the river. The boy had to have his leg amputated above the knee, but now he is attending this school as a result of the connection to the missionary. It is no mistake that his life was spared, and it is no coincidence that his rescuer was a believer. I don't know specifics of God's plans for this young man's life but the weight of God's desire for him rested on me as I took his picture.


The same feeling came with the next picture, this one of another young man who has cautiously showed interest in our beliefs. His quietness and gentleness are immediately evident despite being on the older end of the age range at 18 and definitely able to push the younger students around if he desired. His story is really only beginning as he struggles to decide what is true and who to believe, but I see how God has been drawing him and softening his heart.

I want so desperately to be a good witness to the people God sends my way, and this was just one moment where God opened my eyes to how incapable I am of maintaining that witness on my own. Not only can I not save this children, but I cannot even show them what Jesus looks like on my own power. I see how easy it was for my heart to lose focus and I hope I did not miss opportunities to pray or reach out in my blindness.

Lord may I be alert and ready to share your love and power with those around me at any time, and may your grace cover my weakness to bring all the more glory to your name!