Blood on the Lintel

9/24/2013 11:03:00 AM sendtheroths 1 Comments

God commanded the Israelites in Egypt to mark the doorposts of their home with blood from a lamb so that when the Angel of Death came to take the first born, the home would be passed over.

We were reminded of this story when we found that rebels are recruiting children in Masisi again.

Andrew and Maombi, one of the boys who recently started school from the Peacemaker Program. His favorite  subject is human anatomy.

The rebels are targeting all children, especially those who have been in the militia before, said Ngesha, one of our counselors.

But when the rebels come to the homes of the children in our program, they pass over the home.  Two boys from the Peacemaker Program ran to Ngesha’s house in dismay after the armed group passed over their home one evening.

Apparently, the time, effort and energy spent by Andrew and our local staff to visit the commander of the armed group was not in vain.

He supported what we said about our program; to holistically rehabilitate children into the local community. He decreed to his subordinates that the families and the children in GOF-C’s Peacemaker Program were not to be bothered or coerced.

We received reports last week that rebels were moving from home to home, taking children. The rebels would leave when they were told that one or more children in the home was a part of our program. They would go on to the next home.

Ngesha is one of our counselors for the Peacemaker Program. Boys ran to his house in dismay after the rebel group 'passed over' their home.

The Angel of Death passed by.

Rebels went to the next home and snatched up the boys who didn’t have the program to protect them.

Our team can only attribute this kind of news to God’s grace and favor, may he continue to grant it to us. But there’s a lot of work to be done.

We have 100 children in the program and hundreds more on a waiting list to enter the program.

I cannot help thinking about the kids whose names aren’t on “the list.” I wonder how those mothers feel, who pleaded with our staff to get their kids in the program, but there simply wasn’t more space or their children didn’t have his/her paperwork.

Kondi is another boy from the Peacemaker Program who just started school. Gisele is on left, she's a Phase 1 graduate from the leadership-training in Goma.

Again, I am reminded that the laborers are few. We aren’t even going to pretend that we are meant to rescue all of the war-children in this region. We aren’t even going to pretend that we have some high-calling or special anointing to do this.

We’ve kept a personal relationship with Jesus. We showed up and we have stuck with it. That’s all we have done.

What if Christians stuck with the tough decision to be a pillar in places where there is no pillar?

What if people came to the realization that just showing up is more than half of the battle?

What if we could understand that just the decision to step up or step in could be a game changer for someone’s life?

We aren’t perfect. We fear. We fall. We are selfish. We don’t have it all together. We are lonely.

But our ability to get out of bed, smile, call or do something that no one else is doing for someone else in the might and love of Christ …can somehow …in a quiet way ...shake the earth.