A Divine Appointment

Hello All,
*Name changed for security reasons.
I wanted to share a special story with you that occurred yesterday. I usually don't go to 21 de Octubre, the boys' center on Tuesdays. I usually go Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. However, Benjamin, our Danish volunteer, asked me to go yesterday to translate as he was going to give the devotional for his first time. However, when we got there, there had been a major uproar the day before, and the director spent all morning scolding the boys. Thus, I was in the Orphan Helpers office when I was approached by 16-year-old Jonathan*. I first met him back in February or March of this year when I first started going to 21. He is a character with a great sense of humor and a knack for being a drama queen. He escaped, though, so I hadn't seen him in a while. About two months ago, Jonathan* was really on my mind. As is usually the case when one of my boys is on my mind and in my prayers, he appeared out of nowhere--while I was on a public bus, I saw him walking with a friend in a neighborhood just down the road from mine. I couldn't stop to talk to him, but it was a small comfort to see him. About a month ago, he ended up back at 21. For whatever reason, from the first time I saw him again, I knew he was one of my sons. I love all of the boys at 21 like my sons, but there are just some of them that feel more like mine than others, and even though I rarely know it beforehand, they tend to be the ones who have no family, have been abused by their family, or their families want nothing to do with them. That was the case for Jonathan.

His mother died when he was three, and he never met his father. He was initially raised by his grandmother, but as I'm not surprised, he was quite a handful growing up, and she now wants nothing to do with him. His older sisters have never taken an interest in helping or supporting him, and the only person he feels like he has in this world is his older brother--a young gang member who controls an entire neighborhood not far from mine. His brother, who is six years older than he is, has had him in an orphanage for two years, in a rehabilitation center, in a private high school, and in a public high school in an effort to give him a better life. But all that Jonathan wanted was to be with his big brother and like his big brother, who cried when Jonathan told him that he wanted to join the gang too. He didn't want that kind of life for his little brother. He didn't want his little brother to see an early death and live in constant fear. Jonathan and his brother both agree that the day that someone murders one of them, the other will have to kill himself because they have no one else in the world to love them or look after them than each other. Now, they both want out of the gang, but leaving a gang is no easy task. Realistically, one can only do so in this country by becoming a Christian.

Thus, Jonathan has been on my heart since he came back to 21. I pray for him all the time, and every time I'm in worship, I can't help but cry out for all of my sons, including him. One Sunday before I got sick, I was at church just bawling and begging God to rescue my sons and specifically Jonathan when God told me that I should rejoice because He had already done the work and that the blood of His Son was enough. So, I began to rejoice, and in the midst of rejoicing, God showed me an image of Jonathan joking around with Jesus. Jesus was laughing so hard and caught him up in a huge hug, saying, "That's my son!" That image made me cry and gave me such a special peace.

When I returned to 21, I shared with my boys how God had healed me and how I was grateful for how God had allowed me to have the experience of being sick and alone and feeling invisible because it gave me a small glimpse into what many of them feel. It helped me understand why they turn to life on the streets. And I shared with them how the love of God runs after us into the darkness to rescue us and that they are constantly in my prayers because I love them all like my sons. I then told Jonathan in front of everyone what God had shown me, and I looked up at this boy who is normally the center of attention and a forceful leader in the center (since he's now been there five or six times), and he had tears in his eyes.

As Jonathan and I were talking yesterday, Hermano Mauricio, another worker with Orphan Helpers came in. Somehow or another, he'd been advised that one of Jonathan's friends had been killed, so he told him seriously, "I don't see any way that the road that you're on will lead to anything but an early death." Jonathan agreed and said that although he had wanted to escape from 21 for Christmas, his own brother told him that he needed to stay there for protection because there are people plotting his murder. Thus, we spent the next hour or so--the time when we would have been giving devotions if we would've been allowed--just talking to Jonathan and fervently encouraging him to accept Christ. Hermano Mauricio has a lot to offer boys like him because his testimony is that he was a street kid, a drug addict and salesman, a thief, and someone who God rescued. We listened to Jonathan's stories of the gang, of his brother, of his own son, and of the various seeds God had already planted through a neighborhood pastor and friends who had become Christians, and we continued to encourage him to accept Jesus and leave the life of the gang.

During the entire conversation, I was praying in my mind. When I was road tripping across the US, I met a pastor who didn't know me who prophesied that my prayers would save young people from the gates of hell. Every time I pray for my boys, I remind God of that word, and this case was no exception. I listened to Jonathan with tears rolling down my cheeks, desperately telling God, "You told me that my prayers were going to rescue young people from the gates of hell. Please rescue my son." And He did because Jonathan agreed to pray to accept Jesus. Hermano Mauricio prayed with him, and then we spent the next hour or so praying for him and ministering to him--asking God to heal his past emotional wounds, to flood him with His love and Holy Spirit, to protect him, and to give him the strength to leave the gang and to bring the hope of Jesus to his brother as well. And this young man, who is normally such a clown and a tough guy, cried and cried and let us love on him.

As I hugged my son and cried with him, I thanked God for giving me the privilege of being a part of that moment on a day when I wasn't even supposed to be there in hours that we normally would've filled with other activities if circumstances hadn't taken a turn. Hermano Mauricio told me later that he felt like as Jonathan was being reborn into the family of God that he, too, was being reborn. It is so easy to get worn out when you're constantly planting seeds, seeing no fruit, and opening the newspapers to find stories of the murders of the very young people you've sown into. It is easy to just go through the motions and lose faith that God is, indeed, good and working even when we don't see it. It is easy to lose the passion for those souls lingering in the darkness, desperately in need of Light. While Jonathan is just beginning his journey and needs prayer and encouragement, there is hope even in the midst of where Jesus has found him--as a gang member, as an orphan, and in the middle of the boredom of 21. Being a part of this moment, especially in light of what God showed me weeks ago, restored much of my faith in the power of my own prayers. He IS working on hearts even when on the outside it seems as if there is no change.

Please pray for Jonathan and his brother. Becoming a Christian as a gang member is no casual thing. It's a decision that potentially can lead to death or to life finally free.

All my love,
Sarah