Street children in all of us.

For those of you who don't know some of my history, I was part of a mission organization called Youth With A Mission (YWAM). It was with this ministry that took me to my beloved continent of Africa and to its golden jewel of South Africa.

There is a young man named Ryan "Brown" Dalton who lives in Cape Town and works with the street children there. "Brown" is from Tennessee and a musician. He has posted two videos on his Youtube site that deal with what he sees everyday and the lives he touches by showing these kids the unconditional love of Christ. I have posted one here for you to watch.

I can tell from my counter that when I have videos posted, most people do not take the time to watch them. I implore you to watch this video. "Brown" raps the story of the streets and the lives of these kids. If you don't care for rap, watch anyway. Look at the heart of what he is saying.



One of the things that caught my attention when I watched this video was that this is not only a story of street children on the streets of Cape Town, South Africa, but it is also the story of so many of us who think we have it all together.

All of those reading my blog do not live on the street, but the issues "Brown" is dealing with in these kids are issues we all have. They simply manifest in a different way. We become workaholics, drug addicts, alcoholics, overeat, obsess about our physical appearance and anything we can do to hide from reality. We think we have freedom from the things the we don't like. People ignore our pain. They push us aside without a second look.

We are all the ignored and the ones ignoring!!!

Reality is that we live in a fallen world and there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Christ is the only one who is able to do that for us. But we need to reach out our hand to Him. It is our response to His actions that will begin the healing process.

"Brown" is doing something that few have the guts to do. I feel he is fighting an uphill battle unless those of us who call ourselves Christians wholehearted lay our lives down, allow the Lord to heal us so that we can in turn reach out to other by showing the love of Christ.

This is where I have to put in a disclaimer. I, myself, have not reached that point. I hate that about me. I have so much pain and hurt inside me that it is difficult for me to reach out and trust people. So what am I going to do about it? Take it one day at a time, almost assured that I will dig my heals in, avoid issues in my heart as I continue to look up and cry, "Abba!"

My prayer and hope is that with each and every day that fight within me weakens and I can in turn reach out to others who are hurting and I can say, "I see you!!"