Buy Some Shoes and Run!

There are so many things in one day it is hard to tell you all the stories. However, there are days like Tuesday that I won't forget. After 15 kids come for breakfast and are leaving 3 kids come in that I have been praying for since I got here and first set eyes on. I posted the picture of them previously and had pictures from Tuesday but I deleted them by accident. I will try and tell in words what you might of saw in the picture.

Two girls and a boy...It is a damp cold spring morning. The rain from the night before has left the dusty city in a muddy mess. The temperature 50, and in walks a 9 year old girl with flip flops, no socks, a 8 year old girl with woman's sling backs and a 5 year old barefoot, the only thing protecting his feet is the mud. They sit close together at the table and continually look at the oldest at every step to see if it is okay to take cereal, water, milk and tea from me. They begin to eat and the life that the streets has sucked out of them begins to return. Beti runs and looks in the donated things they have and brings shoes, socks and clothes for each of them and their eyes begin to dance and their weariness turns to laughter.

My heart aches for them and their lives but now my heart begins to feel the same joy they feel. They finish eating and I pack their clothes in a plastic bag, put socks on their dirty feet and they put their shoes on and that 5 year old was jumping, running, laughing. He ran up and down the hallway at least 10 times as the girls joined in with him. I mean come on! A pair of shoes?! I still cry at the sadness and now smile at the joy of telling this story. I wish I had the pics but gone!

If you feel like life has sucked you dry and you feel weary...Buy some shoes and run!

... And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold.

Nehemiah 8:10