Dear Friends and Family:
‘Tis the season…it’s cold outside and my thoughts turn toward warm homes, warm drinks, and the warmth of friends and family. How grateful I am to have the security of such as these on cold days and nights. I think of the families still living on the street in front of our center and wonder how they keep their children warm at night. Please pray that soon they would have houses again.
Yesterday as I was walking home I saw two policemen harassing a little boy by pulling him by his ear. They were off the beaten path and when I came around the corner, they let him go and he ran away. I don’t know what he had been doing, but I imagine he wasn’t doing anything too harmful. I recognized him as a little guy who often begs in my neighborhood. He was so little and they were so big. I wanted to rail against the injustice of what I saw. Men who were supposed to protect were instead inflicting pain. Why is it so easy to hurt those who cannot protect themselves?
I know these sights are not uncommon. Throughout the world people live in shacks or on the streets and authorities are unjust. But when these sights become the people we know, the children we care about and pray for, the sting of a cold night cuts a little deeper, the size of unjust authority a little more menacing.
I also think of a baby born in what could have been a cold place, into a world of injustice. I think of his parents fleeing with him to evade the evil of authorities. I wonder how they kept him warm, I wonder if when he was a little older, soldiers pulled him by the ear. I remember all the babies who were killed when those soldiers went looking for him. Yes, the reality of what is cold and menacing looms a little larger when put into the context of those we know and love.
We live in a cold world, in an unjust one. And yet and still, a baby was born. He lived. He died. And, He did not stay dead. Because He did not stay dead, there is the promise of His return. And there is the comfort of His Spirit. There is the truth of who He is and what He desires. He longs to see all of us warm and fed. I believe now as never before that He aches to see justice restored for His children. That justice began when a baby was born into a cold night and it belongs to a Kingdom that has no end. Even so, come quickly, Jesus. You’re children wait for you.
Just a few days ago, Lenuţa and I returned from Play Therapy training in Bucarest. It was a really good, practical training where we learned specific activities to use in therapy. In the course of only a few days it was amazing to see healing happen in the lives of some who attended the training. Lenuţa and I are both excited to begin implementing this program into counseling sessions with the children. Please pray for us as we continue to explore further training opportunities. We are considering becoming qualified Play Therapists rather than just therapists who use Play Therapy techniques. Also, please pray that as we begin to use Play Therapy, true healing would happen in the lives of the kids…that they would know how loved and precious they are to their Father.
And so, ’tis the season. I hope His Kingdom light sheds warmth this season as we love each other, as we love our neighbor as we love ourselves. I hope His Kingdom of justice would begin to reign as we tell the story of His love for us, incarnated in the Word made flesh.
Thank you for the many ways you have supported me and this ministry over the last year. Your prayers, emails, packages, financial support, and words of encouragement have changed me. I am so grateful.
To the only King eternal,
April