Week #1

After settling in with the new family the first few days, Tuesday night was my first ministry night. Pretty close to the church we're involved with here (Consuming Fire Ministries) is a community called The Bridges. It's an apartments complex run by a few churches. The people living there are mostly Spanish speaking. We went there to be a part of their Homework Help that they have Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon. This ministry has just started and we had no idea what to expect. There were about 10 kids there, age 7-15, some knew English, some didn't. Some sat with homework, some with crafts and paints. What struck me was that they where all so open, so easy to connect with and talk to, and so talented and willing to learn. They may be underprivileged in certain ways, but they are fighting hard to be their own persons and to create their own future.

Wednesday night was another challenge; the Montrose Street Reach, church service in a parkinglot in one of the worst areas of downtown Houston. It's amazing to see so many different people gather together, people who are there for different reasons. Some to get food, some to get help to get off the streets, some out of curiosity, and some of us to offer what ever we had. Prostitutes, drug addicts and dealers, thieves, runaways - all with their own story. And then all the kids. All the innocent kids born on the streets. I spent most of the time sitting in the kids corner, playing with them, feeding them, just trying to be there for them in some way. So many broken poeple, shut out and looked down upon, just trying to survive one day at a time. A different reality.

On Thursday I got to meet some of those kids again. Every Tuesday and Thursday 9.30am-2pm there's a ministry called Mom's Day Out. The street mom's can leave there kids and then go take a class or work to support their family. To see the kids here was even harder than at street church. Then it was just for a couple of hours, it was dark outside and many other things going on. Now it was just them. Children and babies, so beautiful and so broken. Not given enough food, love, attention and stimulation to grow properly. Left to the mercy of others; people who themselves are broken and not capable of taking care of their kids. One word keeps coming back to me as I sit with a little boy in my arms; why? How did this happen? Why has this beautiful little boy, created by God, at the age of two already suffered so much pain that he doesn't have the energy to smile anymore? All he does is putting his head on my shoulder and sighs. He's tired, worn out. Two years old. Why?

This first week has given me lot of things to take in, a lot of questions raised and a feeling that something has to be done. And then the realization that I can't do that much. What do I have? Faced with all these needs, what do I have to offer? It is good to know then that God doesn't ask of me to do everything. He just wants me to do what I can do. I know He has me here for a reason, that He's got things for me to do, people for me to meet and help. But I can only do what I can do. I can't control how people respond, and I can't control what God does. I have to leave that to Him, and trust that He is in control and knows what He's doing. These are His children, His creations. He wants them saved, He wants them healed. That's what He tries to do, and He lets you and me be a part of it as well, doing what we can do.

God bless you!