The Saving of Many Lives...

I’m continually struck by the parallels between the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and the Street Boys in Ambo, Ethiopia. When Nehemiah saw the ruined Temple in Jerusalem he, “sat down and wept” (Nehemiah 1:4). I find myself thinking about the boys we met at the strangest times – in the Cafeteria, in the middle of a Pre-Calculus lesson, or walking through the building to get my morning coffee (which even thinking about coffee makes me yearn for Ethiopia) and it takes everything in me not to sit down and weep for these boys.

These boys (Our Boys as Gwen referred to them as) have fallen out of the reach of society and are considered lower than low and unlovable even by their own people. Sure, these boys can be difficult to love, but so am I at times. Does that make them unlovable? Absolutely not! They have names - Birahnu, Getahnu, Danny – they have stories and they are filled with kindness – a kindness that goes beyond anything I could still have after living such a rough life.

Rebuilding the Temple was far from easy and helping the Street Boys will not be easy either. Nehemiah 4:10 says, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble.” The workers need help. The boys need someone to advocate for them. They need me, but I need them too. Their stories break me apart and that brokenness spurs me into action – not just to be moved but to be fully changed.

Nehemiah 6: 15-16 says, “The wall was completed… They realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.” Just as the Temple was rebuilt, these boys can, with help, rise up and overcome. In one of my last journal entries, I wrote “Grace. Immeasurable Grace. Despite unfathomable dire circumstances, Grace.”