Tyler
returned home from
Africa
today…I picked him up at the airport at
noon
, I swear he was taller. He learned how to say “you are beautiful” in SiSwati, and it was the first thing he said to me.
He “held” all his stories until dinner so he could tell the whole family together… he is a different man, no doubt.
One night he slept amongst 400 orphans.
He said they were all over his legs, and all around him, he could not achieve physical comfort that night, but he was peaceful.
His legs were asleep and he could not feel them for hours, but he dared not move.
Little ones were clinging to him for dear life, his own comfort was forgotten…he sat there at dinner tonight, describing what he experienced, we all stayed respectfully silent, but tears ran down all of our faces…Tyler, 15 ½ years old, had glimpsed his destiny…he knew what it was he was born to do, he no longer would flirt with his future, he was born for something great. He told me he would never again take school for granted, after meeting children that would give anything for an education.
He is very grateful for the homemade meal, and the queen size bed with all its pillows and feather comforter he enjoys.
He is changed, as we all should be, he will never be the same.
I am sure his friends will seem shallow tomorrow, worrying about their, I pods, cell phones and myspaces…but that is the time we live in.
No,
Tyler
will never be the same, nor will we.
We have looked into the face of death, we have stared into the face of little ones the world has forgotten, and we are just foolish enough to think we can make a difference.
Tonight, after hugging and kissing each of the six little ones I have been privileged to served, I stepped into my bedroom and fell to my knees….all I could do was cry and pray.
Lord, take my life, I will give ANYTHING to see them be great…I do not care about me, I do not care about my comfort…I willingly lay my life down, but, LORD, please, let my children be what you have called them to be, let them change their own generation, let them be world changers, let their lives matter, no cost is to dear…
Lord, let this next generation save the forgotten, heal the sick, and tend to the broken hearted…that is all that matters…
