7th Trip to Bogota, January 2011 Day 6

Today is our last day in Bogota, Colombia for this trip. Like I keep telling the children here, “Mi corazon vive en Colombia pero mi cuerpo vive en Estados Unidos.” (My heart lives in Colombia but my body lives in the United States). It has been nice to reunite them for awhile :-).

As I started this morning’s devotion I assured our awesome team that I was aware that they were probably tiring of hearing a new P every day so today I was going to share with them TWO P’s from the ministry and life of Jesus. 🙂 Provision and Protection. Jesus didn’t only come and share His Presence, His Passion for People, His Power, His Pleasure, His Purpose, but He also spent much time involved in temporal Provision and Protection.

Provision

He fed people who were hungry again the next day. He healed people who later died. He even raised people from the dead who eventually grew old and died again. He wasn’t only concerned with Eternity but with the welfare of His lambs today.

Part of the ministry of Orphan Hope International is meeting the physical needs of orphans as we find them. On this trip we have distributed supplies, food, socks, and underwear, Bibles, Spanish/English Dictionaries, clothes, Christian DVD’s, and more. This falls under our Mercy Missions pillar.

Protection

Another pillar of OHI is Haven Homes where we hope in the next year to establish a safehouse for children who age out of the orphanage system at age 18. Here are some statistics relating to this.

Approximately 250,000 children are adopted worldwide annually, but…

Each year 14, 505, 000 children grow up as orphans and age out of the system by age eighteen.

Each day 38,493 orphans age out

Every 2.2 seconds another orphan ages out with no family to belong to and no place to call home

Studies have shown that 10% – 15% of these children commit suicide before they reach age eighteen

These studies also show that 60% of the girls become prostitutes and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals

Interpol estimates there are 35,000 women and girls trafficked out of Colombia every year for the sex trade, with estimated profits of $500 million, making Colombia second only to the Dominican Republic in the West. It is beyond comprehension the horror that these women and girls face as they service on average 40 clients per day. (Interpol)

The Example of Job:

Job 29-31. Job was a godly man. Just listen to God’s description of him in chapter 1 verse 8, The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Wow! What an amazing accolade from the Almighty!

In Job 29:2-11 He tells us some things about His relationship with God that ought to make us sit up and take notice. He says…

God watched over me… His lamp shone over my head… by His light I walked through darkness… the friendship of God was over my tent… the Almighty was yet with me…

Then Job goes on in verses 12-17 to tell us why he was so blessed…

Because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the orphan who had no helper. The blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the case which I did not know. I broke the jaws of the wicked and snatched the prey from his teeth.

Job’s wonderful relationship with God resulted from his faithfulness to God’s own passion for diligently ministering to the poor, needy, widow, orphan, lame, and blind. He defended those who were being mistreated and punished the predators. Job lived God’s and our vision for orphan ministry.

We get another glimpse of Job’s passion for the orphan in Job 31:16-22 where he says very passionately… “If I have kept the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my food alone, and the orphan has not shared it (yet from his youth the orphan grew up with me as with a father, and from infancy I guided her), If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or that the needy had no covering, if his stomach has not thanked me, and if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep, if I have lifted up my hand against the orphan, because I saw I had support in the community, let my shoulder fall from the socket, and my arm be broken off at the elbow.”

Old and New Testaments teach us to give provision and protection to the needy.

Matt. 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

Mark 9:37 “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

After her second trip to Bogota in June, 2010 my daughter Brooke wrote this poem to express her feelings about Jesus’ words in Matthew 25.

How many times have I longed

To see my Lord, to sing Him songs

To stand before Him, to give Him love?

To live with Him in His home above?

How many times have I cried

He said He was here, I felt He lied

“Lord I want to see you, to touch you”

And then I learned what I never knew

I found Him right were He said

In his tiny home, in his tiny bed

A little child, across the world

He warmed my heart, which once was cold

I found what I sought in the least of these

Now to my heart he holds the keys

Jesus’ true face, without pride or care

A find like this though humble is rare

This is why I write this rhyme

I will never cringe at the dirt or grime

When I kiss the cheek of mi amigas

I am kissing the face of Jesus

Our last day was the best yet. We headed first to an emergency center where children come in off the street or are brought in by the police. We have been there before but today was a great blessing. The staff, including the pastor for the foundation, had a presentation prepared for us. The children sang praise and worship songs in Spanish and then Pastor John gave us a message from Acts 8:26-40. It was awesome. Then the girls and I got to sing Jesus Messiah for them in Spanish. They gave each of us a gift of a Colombian handbag. Then we went across the street to their safe house called Casa De Egreso and had a barbecue on the roof. It was wonderful. We saw many of our old friends at the safe house and had some awesome fellowship with the staff and some government officials that came to meet us. After the barbecue we went to the “Baby” orphanage where they have children 0 – 6 years old. They were so cute and we had a fun time playing with them. I held a little 3 year old boy named Bryan. He didn’t respond to me at all until I put him on my knee and did ride a horsee and then he smiled once. Later we passed out little bags of chips and he sat on my lap and ate a whole snack sized bag of Doritos. When I asked him, “Le gusta?” He nodded and kept eating. He was so cute. My dear sister in the Lord, Sandy Byrd, and I agreed that we had never seen a child enjoy a bag of chips so much. We hadn’t realized it until we got to the Baby House but it is right across the street from Amparo De Ninas where many of our Goddaughters live.

As we left the Baby House to head for the airport we saw that we had about 7 hours before our flight. We all mentioned to our in country representative, Sandra, that we sure would love to go say one last goodbye to our girls. She said, “impossible. Airport” We sighed and reluctantly agreed and the bus began to pull away. I was sitting next to Sandra and I sighed out loud, “Ginary and Heidy” she looked at me and then she told the bus driver to stop. I know it was for everybody but I’ll accept it as a personal gift from the Lord 🙂 She called the orphanage and my brother and the excellent director of this mission trip Bill Byrd said, “Matt, why don’t you lead the bus in a prayer that they will say yes.” and so we did and so they did and we pulled into Amparo with a promise to only stay 1 hour. The girls, of course, had no idea that we were coming. I will never forget the screams of joy and the girls pouring out of the dormitories when they saw us coming up the walk in the dusk. My sweet girls jumped into my arms and then clobbered each of my daughters with hugs and kisses. I was surrounded by sweet girls hugging me and thanking us for coming back before the airport when Marianna found me and nearly hugged me in two. She clung to me the whole hour as I moved around from group to group standing under the streetlight in the courtyard. It was a beautiful, happy, joyous scene and I could feel the Father’s smile as He enjoyed what He is doing in this place through His people. The hour passed too quickly and we said our last tearful goodbyes. Marianna wet the front of my shirt with her tears as I told her to never forget that Jesus loves her and so do I. I finally pulled away and walked into the darkness, past the guard, and through the iron gate to the awaiting bus. I have shed many tears on this dirty little alley leading away from this compound where a large portion of my heart lives and tonight was no exception. But I was also filled with joy to know that every trip I take down here, every meeting with high ranking government officials, every new pastor, pastor’s wife, and family that comes with us, and every new connection that we make brings us closer to helping all of these “other sheep” (John 10:16) that the Shepherd of Souls desires to bring into His fold.