It was the last day of crusades at a town called Butula. The night started off great. I already found my little buddy for the night and was looking forward to loving and pouring into the little girl that I held in my arms. But little did I know that things were going to take a drastic turn for the worse.
The little girl I had in my arms was almost asleep when I saw him standing at a distance. I am going to guess that he was around the age of 2. He was wearing this long shirt that had 101 dalmations on it, was dirty as can be and had this really vulnerable look about him. I instantly had a connection with him. If I didn't already have an arm full I would have walked over and swept him up into my arms. So I just settled with the little girl in my arms that I loved. But I couldn't keep my eyes off of him.
Now for some reason there is always a drunk man wherever we go. Always. So when the drunk man of the night walked over to the little boy I snapped to full attention. I didn't want any harm to touch the precious child. The drunk man looked at me and then started to mock me(because I was holding a child in my arms). He picked up the little boy, kissed and jostled him around, while he contiuned to mock me. What I saw in the kids eyes quite literaly broke my heart in half. They were pain and tear filled. The drunk man was easily distracted from mocking me but he continued to parade the crying kid around with not a care in the world that his entertainment was at the expense of someone else.
That's when he thrusted the kid up onto one of his shoulders and I could have sworn that he was going to drop him. I looked at Samson, one of my teammates, and asked him(more like begged) to do something. Right when I said that Ashley, another one of my teammates, walked up to the drunk man and took the little boy from his arms. I was so relieved. I could finnaly breathe again. But the little boy didn't have any underpants on so Ashley didn't want to hold him. She put him on the ground and tried to soothe him from there. But it wasn't working. He contined to cry out for someone to come to his help and love him. After about a minute I couldn't take it any longer. If I didn't hold that little boy I could have sworn that I was going to die. I didn't care that he was bare bottomed or that my arms just might fall off. I walked over and Ashley lifted him up into my free arm. The moment I had him he stopped crying and nustled close to me. I was holding back tears as I found a place to sit down.
Oh man I can't describe what I was feeling at that moment. I was overwhelmed with love and compassion for the boy. It's like something snapped inside of me and I wanted to care for and protect him at all costs. If I was asked to lay down my life for him I would have. I didn't care that he was filthy, his teeth were rotting, tons of snot oozing out of his nose, covered in scars and soon to be ones. I truly and fully loved him with all of my heart. It was all I could do to keep the tears back from pouring down my cheeks.
The crusade began and I needed to move out of the way. So I lifted the now alseep little girl into Samson's arms so I could stand and hold my precious sleeping child. People were singing, dancing and praising the Lord when the drunk man walked over to me and muttered something in swahilli. He wasn't really bothering me at all but I was ready to protect the child from more humiliation and pain. In no way did I want to be mean or hurt the guy because I know there is a little boy inside of him crying out for help too. I just wanted to protect the child. The drunk man started to get a little bit more upset so Michael and Samson stepped in front of me to keep me safe. That made him even more mad. We started to create a huge seen and our translaters walked over to get things sorted out. That's when my worst fear came true. The boy was ripped from my arms and handed over to the drunk man because he was his son. He walked away with the little boy bawling his eyes out. I couldn't take it. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. Michael kept looking at me and asked if I was ok. I think I nodded my head yes, at this point I was really out of it. He put his arm around me and said "It's ok to cry. Just go behind the van, let it out and get things settled with God." I told him I didn't want too. I wanted to stay strong but on the inside I was falling into peices. After a couple min. I couldn't take anymore. I went and sat in the van and bawled my eyes out. My heart was in a million pieces and I was physically hurting for the little boy. I was so broken.
I can't tell you what came over me. My only explanation that I can come up with is that God gave me his heart at this moment. I was a mess and honestly I am still a mess today from it. One thing is for sure. This was just one more confirmation that I am to become a mother to the motherless and reach out to kids who are desperate for someone to show them that they care
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