The Children

As the time draws closer for Thanksgiving, followed by Advent and Christmas, I've been feeling just a bit of homesickness - as well as recovering from a nasty sinus infection. I've been thinking a lot more about the 'closeness' of our family, especially during the holiday times. I've been thinking about the turkey dinner and how full our table is every year. I've been thinking about the Advent season and how we used to do the morning Advent devotional readings together at the breakfast table. And all the family Christmas traditions - too many to list in this small space. I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself too, since I won't be there this year for the very first time in more than 28 years of marriage and raising a family. I suppose it's natural and at the same time just a bit painful too.

And then, when I was kinda questioning how committed I really was to this opportunity and whether I should perhaps consider heading home...I looked directly into the eyes of an Afghan child on the streets of Kabul.

They say that there are an estimated 60,000 'street children' in Kabul. Many of them are homeless. Many of them have homes - but must beg for money and food for themselves and their families. Many of them are sick, cold and hungry. And winter is not too far away.

Each day on our way to and from the office in our secure vehicles, we see them. Many of them stand right in the streets, near the stop lights. When the traffic stops, they seek out the vehicles that may contain a sympathetic Westerner and begin to wipe the dust from the windows - in hopes for a small tip. Even when the traffic begins to move, they continue to run alongside until they can't keep up.

And when we go shopping in town, they find us and follow us. They try to sell us everything from gum to cell phone cards. They offer to be our 'bodyguards'. They know that we have money to spend on rugs and scarves and wood carvings - and they are hoping that we will spend just a little on them.

We've been instructed by our security folks not to pay attention to them nor to buy anything from them. If we do, we are only encouraging them and more will come - perhaps even putting themselves and us in danger. Many children have been hit by cars and others have reportedly been abducted for slave labor.

Then, today, as I was leaving the local shopping center after taking a significant amount of cash from the ATM to pay my monthly food and laundry bill, I encountered a little boy whom looked to be 7 or 8 years old. His clothes were tattered and he had well worn sandals on his feet, but no socks. He was carrying what looked to be an old soup can on a piece of rope, swinging it back and forth as he approached me. I noticed wisps of smoke rising from the can . As he got closer, I could smell a sweet aroma of incense as well.

As he drew near, I heard him say, "Mister, you like the smell? You give me dollar for food?" and as I looked him eye to eye, I replied "Na" (Dari for 'no') and waved my hand away from me, as our security people have taught us to do. Just then my personal security guard opened the car door and indicated for me to get in.

The little boy continued to walk beside me, no longer saying anything, but still waving the sweet incense can until I entered the vehicle. As the door shut, I looked at him again through the window - eye to eye.

What I saw in his eyes was emptiness. No feeling. No pain. He was numb in his mind and in his spirit. Then, just as quickly, the glance was gone as he turned to seek out another person on the street.

What I then felt in my chest was a heaviness of shame and a powerful conflict in my spirit. How could I be so heartless?! How could I let the current circumstances in war torn Kabul justify my actions? What harm could have come from handing him just a single dollar? or taking the time to buy a piece of grilled lamb or chicken and fresh baked bread from a nearby vendor to give to him?

The Bible, the Quran and the Torah all call for us as people of God to care for his children. And, yet, so many times we turn away from them. So many times, by our actions, we act like they don't matter. But they do matter. They matter to God. And, thus, they must matter to us as Christians, Muslims and Jews alike.

In the coming days, I am going to fervently seek out opportunities to help the children of Kabul. There are aid organizations here in Kabul who are working to provide meals and housing for these very street children. I am going to seek them out and offer to help in any way I can.

I am not going to do this as an act of guilt for my actions of today with that boy. I am going to do it because that's what Jesus Christ calls us to do. That encounter with that little boy today - a boy I may never even see again - was an opportunity. An opportunity not to continue down the path I was on.

The children, my brothers and sisters - what we are doing for the children?

Pastor Russ <'///><