It takes a village

Lately I have been drawing mind-food from a man who was grew up in a small isolated village in West Africa, came to America when he was a teenager, and quickly realized the DESPERATE NEED to raise children. ~"You never stand so tall as when you stoop to help a child."~

Drawing from his childhood in Africa Stafford noted that "Small, weak, helpless, innocent, vulnerable, and trusting, they (children) are the waiting victims of our simple neglect and most evil abuse. No matter what goes wrong, the little ones pay the greatest price." One of Stafford's primary examples of this neglect is in reference to war, since that is an evil that is currently obliterating the African continent. "When war erupts over ethnicity or boundary lines in the dust, it is the littlest victims who pay the most tragic price. The wars over the last decade killed more children than soldiers. Far more children were injured or permanently maimed by our battles. The tragedies go on for years after the last gunshot or grenade blast, as land mines and booby-trapped toys keep wounding, terrorizing, and killing our innocent ones."

"When hunger and famine strike a nation, adults become weak and hungry, but its the children who most often starve to death. When disease arrives with all its fury, adults can become very sick, but the first to die are usually the children...the ritual sacrifice of children has been taboo for thousands of years. Yet tragically it is practiced every day across our world. We sacrifice children on the alters of our most destructive sins. When sickness of pornography has run its most evil and destructive end, it takes the form of child pornography. When prostitution reaches its sickest, most depraved form, it becomes child prostitution."

"So while GOD has done HIS part in creating a world capable of providing what we need, we have not done out part in the stewardship of it, in seeing that it gets to the end of the line, to the poorest and neediest---the children."

In today's fast paced, technological, high demand life we "have forgotten that there really is no higher calling than to raise a child. We tend to do a lot for our children but not nearly enough with out children." And that is really what it means to raise a child...to be with them. Think of the difference between a parent saying, "I love you" as they walk out the door at 6 am and a parent saying, "I love you" over a cup of hot chocolate WAY after bed time following a day at the beach or trip to the lake. Despite the world's attempt to make it seem as though the rest of the world is "SO FAR AWAY," they are not. And the children of those countries, especially those inflamed by war, have a DESPERATE need to be raised.

"Children may be ignored by government, church, and mission---but not by Satan or by GOD ALMIGHTY."

Who would you prefer find them first..?

Stafford makes an EXCELLENT point about children...being the sponges they are. "I learned in my childhood in Africa that a child may be born in poverty, but poverty is never born in a child." PEOPLE...LISTEN TO ME FOR A SPLIT SECOND. TURN OFF THE TV, PAUSE THE MUSIC, and MINIMIZE YOUR OTHER SCREENS...just for one point:

"A child may be born into poverty, but poverty is NEVER born in a child. The worst aspects of poverty are not the deplorable outward conditions (although that is what we first think of) but rather the erosion and eventual destruction of hope and therefore dreams. When a child gives up home, dreams are forever shattered. With lost dreams goes the potential and ultimate impact that a child might have had."

And what other plan does Satan have for vulnerable people than "destruction of hope and therefore dreams?"

In a recent blog I mentioned HEARTS FOR AFRICA, a new non-profit organization that is reaching out to Africa. I met the founders when the Mwangaza choir was touring last summer, and I met them again in Uganda at the end of March. I am so privileged and blessed to know them, and call them friends. I have nothing but good things to say about their mission, and the vision ahead. They are creating a way for GOD's community to come alongside lost children and raise them. Disciple, educate, encourage, and nurture the dreams of children. One of many gifts held by my friends is the art of beautiful expression:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiROj4IVGc0#GU5U2spHI_4

"The word community is more than just a grey sociological descriptor. It is a GOD term, designed by the Creator of children to water their souls and enhance their spirits as they grow."

Be a part of this community because among time, energy, dedication, and love it "really does take a village to raise a child."