streets

the stories continue to be created everyday. i wish i could write them all down some are amazing and others break your heart. my friend jamel continues to steal my heart along with 4 other six year old boys. their hearts are so tender and hurt. jamel is on the far left with the light blue shirt on. isaiah is next to me in red and caleb is next to him.

caleb comes everyday, his big brother has been coming to wRap Kidz for years, and caleb is finally old enough to come. sometimes he makes it to bible story, sometimes snack and on a few days he makes it for the full two hours. we do send kids home if they are not participating because it affects all the kids. kids want to be here so they usually get sent home only once and then they are back for good. they do not want to go home.

isaiah is the youngest of 5 brothers and sisters. he is so cute, oh my word! the whole family is beautiful. i have made some really good connections with this family and the mom anesha. a church sent 3 of the older kids to VCBC for junior camp when mark spoke. it was a very stretching week for anesha having 3 of her babies in iowa for a week. but it was a good bonding time for her and i as i checked in on her. isaiah and caleb live across the street from each other they are best buds and worst enemies in the same day!

jamel, i have written a little about him before, but he is an amazing kid. jamel walks the streets almost all day long by himself, he is 6 years old. sometimes he has his bike and other times he is just walking in shoes we would have thrown out years ago. jamel often comes by the Lazarus House long before wRap Kidz just to see what is going on there. last week we had a mission team who was working on the fence in front of the property. jamel came by, he wanted to help. we do not let kids come early because it usually causes a problem, so ron sent jamel home. donna walked him home, she began to talk to him. she learned that he doesn't get breakfast unless he walks to the King center which is about 4 blocks away, on that particular day it was closed. she also learned that he just hangs out on the streets alone most of the time. in the house jamel lives there are 11 kids signed up to come to wRap Kidz, about 5 or 6 come on a regular basis. jamel doesn't really seem a part of this group of siblings and cousins. they don't talk to each other or look out for him the way they do the other young ones. ron went home to eat lunch after sending jamel home. he talk to God about sending jamel home and the Lord told him that we needed to be there for jamel. as he was sharing all of this with us durning our prayer time after lunch. he told us that if jamel comes around he can stay and 'work' with us and we'll give him breakfast and lunch on those days. about 3 minuets later jamel came back wondering if wRap kidz was starting, it was truly a God thing. we still had to pray and jamel stayed with us during that itme, we got him some lunch. ron talked to him and told him that he was wrong in sending him home and he can come and play with us anytime we are out but that it was special thing just for him. jamel comes around often now. it was either that day or the next we shared the gospel witht he kids and asked them if they wanted to be jesus' friend. jamel did and then he prayed and said, "i love you God, thanks for being my friend." so sweet precious prayers of a hurting nelegected child who longs to be loved. we were talking with the 1 st and 2nd grade small group and jamel began to ask how big God is. we shared ideas and i told them he was bigger than the sky and the lazarus house. then he looked at me and said, "God is so big that he gave us a heart to love him." jamel is beginning to get it and understand that God loves him and is always there for him when he is walking the streets alone day after day.

do i really get that? oh these kids challenge me to be grateful for what i have and to seek out the Lord because he is all they have. he is really all i have too but do i live like that?