Reconciliation

There are 70 boys who formerly lived on the street who I worked with when I used to live here three years ago (and have been reunited with since I've returned). They live at a home for former street boys and are loved by missionaries and local Christian workers. We cherish them like our own children. They are unique and beautiful, each with his own smile, laugh, personality, and sense of humor. When I first came, I had such a hard time telling them apart and barely knew their names. Now I know each face by heart. I wish they knew just how much I love them.

Many of these boys live at the center because they had a falling-out with their families and had to leave home, whether it be from their own bad behavior, involvement with the occult, or a family problem. Some of these boys have families who love them and are willing to forgive them and welcome them back home. So last week, 18 boys left this particular center to return to their homes permanently, with 12 leaving another center outside of town. The staff had visited their families and local pastors and talked about what reconciliation with their children should look like. They also talked to the boys about what it would be like to go home finally. Some boys were excited, while others were nervous or even upset by the prospect.


Since these boys are so precious to us, we had a special party for them to send them forth as missionaries to their own families. We told them that they are new boys, changed from the inside out by Jesus, and now they can show their families how they have changed.


One of the special things about this party was that some of the boys who were staying at the center could share advice or encouragement with their friends who were leaving. We were able to see how these boys have matured beyond their years in spiritual insight and Godly thinking as they candidly shared their thoughts.


Boys that wouldn't normally shed a tear at other times cried as they said goodbye to their "brothers".


The leaders of the center also shared from their heart with the boys. Alex, a house parent and the head of the center who has devoted many years to these boys, shared with them from Psalm 1, a passage that many of the boys had memorized:
"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."


The boys were encouraged not to fall in with bad friends, which could be so easy now that they are moving into a secular environment. Before the evening was over, each boy was given his own Bible. My friend, GayLynn who has discipled many of these boys, did the honors.


And of course, soda and a special snack called suya was served for the boys.

I wasn't a part of the group who took the boys to their homes throughout the week, but I heard that many parents came running, arms open wide, to receive their children when the vehicles pulled into the villages. Many parents cried, overjoyed to see their boys after many years. The staff were able to visit and pray with the families, and see the houses where the families were living. Four of the older boys went to boarding school, and the staff accompanied them there. They were nervous, especially when they each were carted off in different directions, separating from their "brothers". But we know that they will stick together, and we pray that they will follow the Lord and let Him guide their ways.