And
we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed
into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is
the Spirit. 2
Corinthians 3:18
Once again, I have been brought to my
knees, I have been weakened, I have been humbled, and the scales have fallen
from my eyes. I have seen Jesus, I have
heard Him speak, I have seen Him work, I watched Him serve, and I watched Him
being unveiled in a man named Uncle Ben!
We had the privilege of sharing our home
with a couple of Ethiopians this weekend.
The traveling Orphan Choir, His Little Feet, blessed us with their
presence at our church this weekend. (On
a side note…if you ever get a chance to see these kids perform GO…you will
forever be changed.) While they were at our church we stayed with host
families, and we were blessed with the presence of Ben and a sweet little 7
year-old from Ethiopia. Another host
family decided to crash our party and brought 2 other Ethiopian children and
their Uncle Aaron to our house for kickball and dinner as well, along with a
few others from our church. My house is
very small, and our two giant dogs take up most of the room. We could have made excuse after excuse why we
shouldn’t have been a host family for the weekend, or pile more people into our
home that evening, but by the grace of God we didn’t, and Oh, how I will be
forever changed from that night. The
conversations with each of the “uncles” have changed us, watching the children
interact changed us, the kick ball game in my front yard with three beautiful
brown boys has forever changed us, watching them eat has forever changed us,
watching how they see the beauty in everything around them changed us. I could go on and on about how in less than
24 hours with these beautiful children my world has forever been changed. After the bus rolled out and the kids and Ben
were gone, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I ached for them to come back, for more time
with them. More time to learn from them,
more time to love on them, more time to just see the simplicity in the world
around me. I couldn’t quite figure out
how someone in such short of time had impacted me so deeply and so
passionately. I had only spent less than
12 hours with Uncle Ben and this sweet little boy how in the world had I come
to feel this deeply about them…then I realized.
My eyes were open, it wasn’t Uncle Ben so much that I was drawn to, IT
WAS THE JESUS INSIDE OF UNCLE BEN THAT WAS SO TRANSPARENT AND REAL, IT WAS AS
IF I HAD SPENT THE ENTIRE WEEKEND WITH MY LORD AND SAVIOR HIMSELF. By watching Ben care for this child he was
entrusted to, and by watching Him talk about His Lord and Savior and the Love
he had for other people I felt as if I had looked into the eyes of Jesus this
weekend.
I will tell you one story, and this is
one story of many I witnessed this weekend.
The sweet 7 year old was having a few problems. He was in “a little” trouble for various reasons. And as I watched the next hour unfold I
realized as a parent I was half of the parent Uncle Ben was. Uncle Ben was an orphan himself. He has an incredible story of survival and
how God rescued him, but he has given up his freedom and his life for a life of
servant-hood to these kids, these precious kids in His Little Feet. I watched as Ben turned into a Mother and a
Father for this little boy. He had the
touch of a mother and the heart of a Father.
He turned into a disciplinarian and a mentor. He turned into a comforter and encourager. As I watched this young man mother and father
this sweet child, who doesn’t even have children of his own, I realized he was
more of a parent than I have ever been. The difference was his apparent love for our
God and Savior and his apparent love for the Bible that he so freely shared
with this little one.
Ben and the child disappeared for a good
while after the little one got himself in trouble. I was hoping he wasn’t in trouble for the
night, and we were going to miss out on spending time with him. In the meantime we played with the other two,
had some very insightful encouraging conversations with Uncle Aaron and
finished up dinner. I heard bath water
running and then the sweet little one was in his PJ’s. About 45 minutes later Uncle Ben and the
little one emerged. The little one went
to play with the other kids, and Uncle Ben sat down with the looked of an
exhausted parent and asked for some Tylenol.
I have seen that look of exhaustion in a parents face before and knew
the feeling all too well. The little one
seemed to be very strong willed, which I can identify with on so many levels,
and has had a very very rough time to be seven years old. He has had more hurts and more obstacles come
his way than what most American children would never encounter. And instead of Uncle Ben taking some Tylenol,
sending the kids to play with the others and then going to bed like most
American parents, what he shared with me next will forever change the way I
parent! He shared the stories of that
sweet baby’s background and why that has made him a challenge to parent. And then he shared what had happened when the
two of them disappeared over dinner. He
shared why the little one got in trouble.
Then he shared what happened next.
After he had to discipline him for his disobedience, he talked of how he
ran him a warm bath and washed him. (The boy has never had parents to wash him)
I saw a picture of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet as he was telling us of
how he washed him and took care of him.
Then Uncle Ben told us that he held him, and told him of Jesus love and
shared stories with him and let him know how much he was loved and cared for. And as he was talking all I saw was how our
Heavenly Father cares for us the same way that Uncle Ben has selflessly cared
for this child, that isn’t even his own blood.
I think of all the times Anna Lee has frustrated me, and I disciplined
and then was mad for the entire day. I
thought of all the times I yelled and screamed and disciplined her in front of
others, I thought of all the times I have not held her enough and shared the
love that Jesus has for her. I thought
of all the times she hasn’t experienced Jesus in me, because I haven’t been the
picture of Jesus like Uncle Ben was to this sweet little boy that night. Uncle Ben was more of a mother and a father
in 45 minutes than I have been in six years of Anna Lee’s life and it was all
because he has allowed Jesus Christ to penetrate and change his very
being. He has allowed him to change
every ounce of his being and who he is.
He has allowed Jesus Christ to transform his every step to what He wants
from him and in return the Fatherless gets to see the Love of a Heavenly Father
that they otherwise wouldn’t experience.
All this happened in a matter of thirty minutes of conversation… and there
was sooo much more. There was so much
more I learned from Ben. His love for
people consumed me. His ability to see
the beauty in all circumstances consumed me.
His ability to smile and press on through exhaustion consumed me. His humor and whit consumed me. I saw the Beauty in an Ethiopian that slept
in my little guest bedroom, I saw the Beauty of Jesus Christ in his life, and
for that I am forever changed. I pray
God consumes me the way He has consumed Ben.
I pray I raise children half as good as the way Ben is raising them. I pray I can change my surroundings one tenth
of the way Ben is changing his world, his nation, his country. I pray I experience one tenth of the power of
Jesus Christ that Ben has seen. The
scales have been removed from my eyes. I
have seen the glory of the Lord. I pray
it penetrates me, I pray it penetrates my family. I pray it penetrates my
neighborhood, my community, my world. I
pray I am transformed to His likeness the same way Ben has been. I pray I see the beauty of this world the way
Ben does. I pray that I am no longer the
Christian I was on Friday, but the one the Lord allowed me to witness and
experience on Saturday. I pray I never
want for anything in this life, but the glory of the Lord to be revealed. I pray I never want shoes, or clothes, a new
car, a new house on so on, but I pray I want nothing more than desires of the
Lord’s heart in my life.
I
want Lily now more than I ever did before.
I want my Haitian daughter home with me and her family. I want to love my children the way the Lord
wants me to love them. I want to teach
them about the Lord of Lord and King of Kings the way Ben is teaching his
children. I want them to see freedom and
experience it the way these orphaned children has. I want to stand with them and sing My God is
greater and My God is stronger just as the children from His Little Feet stood
and stomped and clapped and raised their hands to God as they sang it. I want to have a passion like no other. I have determined that the adoption process
takes so long because God is not through with me yet, teaching me to be the
parent he wants me to be. After this
weekend I am one step closer.
FATHER,
please bring Lily home. We are ready and
willing to share your love with her.
