Lonely Little Boy...
Friday, February 24, 2006

The other day I went out in the sawmill yard (our house is located in the compound of a decrepit, rusting overgrown sawmill just a few yards from the Berbice River) to dig some nice black dirt for my chrysanthemum. There were a few young boys playing "tah" in the sawmill yard and one of the little boys, Jacob (6,7? years old. I wonder if he would know if I asked him. He comes from a very broken home. He used to live with his mother, who died last year. Because of her immoral lifestyle, some suspected HIV was the cause. Now he lives down the road with his father, an Indian man with long hair who seems to be a hard person.)

Jacob came running toward me, his eyes bright "Yoh dig durty? Yoh dig durty?" Rather bewildered at his word usage, I finally replied, "I'm digging dirt" Holding up a handful I said, "This is dirt. Dirty is what my hands get when I hold dirt."

"Satan de in de dirt?"

"No. God made the dirt." Our conversation proceeded on how God made dirt and roots. I showed him the roots of the plants. He "helped" me get more dirt by continuing to pull up the weeds and give them to me to take the dirt off the roots. ...

"Who made you Jacob?"

"GOD mek me. He put de blood insie me body and mek de bones and mek me skin turn sof..."

"Why did God make you?" (He did not understand the word "why?")

"Me mother mek me....... Me mother is dead" He looked at me quite solemnly.

"I know. I'm sorry" We continued to talk. It was just amazing to me how he wanted to talk - about his grandfather praying, about God who "trow down de water from de sky" When I finally walked back inside with my potful of dirt, my heart said, "That was a precious mercy. Thank you God - for that opportunity, because I was not even looking for it" In fact I was thinking about "being busy at home," and wondering how much opportunity to reach out there really is - there are opportunities to serve right
at home of course, but also to minister to people that God is pleased to bring to us.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
- Eph. 2:8-10 ESV