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Every Day a Victory!
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| On August 23, we wrote: It has been ten days since Darwin showed up at our door, ready to begin a new life. There is a powerful sign that the saints of God are praying for us: Darwin has spent the last ten days without his precious shoe glue, a drug so powerful that it kept him on the streets for six years. To those of us who know how powerfully the shoe glue takes hold of the street kids’ lives, these ten days are truly a miracle. Please know that in the Micah Project, your prayers are a physical, living presence in this miraculous time! I well up with joy every time I watch Darwin in the Micah House. At times, probably when the urge to inhale glue is strongest, he runs from room to room like a caged lion. At other times, he will concentrate on a puzzle or craft activity for hours without a break. He approaches the world with the rambunctiousness and sense of discovery of a three year-old. After showering for the first time and borrowing his big brother’s deodorant, he ran around the house demanding of everyone: “Smell my armpits! Don’t they smell awesome?” He is an amazing and unique mixture of savvy and innocent. "Michael! I need another lollipop!" Darwin comes screaming into the office as if I were two blocks away. I smile at him and wonder when he will develop an "inside voice.” Since Honduran street kids inhale yellow glue through their mouths and into their respiratory tracts, they develop an oral fixation and need some stimulus to replace it. I have bought ninety lollipops in the last ten days and he comes in to my office to get one every time he feels the urge to inhale the glue. Rotten teeth are a price we're willing to pay for a drug-free Darwin! It may take us months or even years to understand the mental and physical scars that Darwin will carry with him. When I ask him a question that he doesn't understand or doesn't know the answer to, he turns on his heels and goes running off. He knows nothing about the give-and-take of human relationships. Nor does he have a good understanding of God, right and wrong, good and bad. For so many years he has only understood one thing: survival. At the same time, we are seeing glimpses of a loving child of God hidden away behind years of dehumanizing street life. Two days ago, we were taking Darwin for and ice cream cone and to buy a new puzzle when we ran into a schizophrenic street woman digging through the trash outside a restaurant. The last time I saw this woman walking through the streets of our neighborhood, she would fall to her knees every thirty or forty feet, raise her arms toward the heavens, and screams unintelligible rants against the universe. When Darwin saw her digging through the trash, he didn't shy away from her as most people do. Instead, he walked over to her and handed her his ice cream. Could that be the first compassionate act of a future missionary?
Facilitating Darwin's transformation is perhaps one of the most challenging
experiences of my life. Yet it is wonderful to see how this challenge
is bringing out a true servant's spirit in the boys. On Sunday afternoon,
when I am sure they would rather be watching a soccer game on t.v., they get
a bingo game going in order to entertain Darwin. During a meal, if
Darwin proclaims that he is still hungry (often!) one of the boys will slide
some food off of his plate and onto Darwin's. Darwin's presence is
teaching them more about ministry, perseverance, and sacrifice than any other
ministry experience we have had. |
