Solomon, The Spin of Peasants and Kings Pt. 2

In Pt. 1 of The Spin of Peasants and Kings, I talked about 2 Samuel 21:19 where it says, “Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.” (you can read it here) I spoke about how the writer may have been trying to subvert the stories that were being told by those in power. I want to continue looking at how these stories show up, and how they bring questions to what we are used to hearing.

A central part of Israel’s story centers around their captivity and deliverance from slavery in Egypt. As you can imagine, being enslaved left its mark as it would with any nation or people. It’s kind of a big deal. When the children of Israel left Egypt they had a new story to tell and a new role to play in the world. They were told that when a foreigner lived among them, not to  mistreat them, and that the foreigner living among them must be treated as a native-born. Love them as yourself (sound familiar?), for you were once foreigners in Egypt (Leviticus 19).

As the nation grew in status and power so did their need to survive. Other nations had kings, governments, armies, and they would too. King David and his son Solomon would mark the height of the nation’s status and power, and what people do with power is always revealing.

The writers of the book of Kings have a knack for not only giving information, but for also throwing jabs in at the same time, sometimes subtly and sometimes not so much. For example, in chapter 4 a list of names are given for those who are appointed as Solomon’s officials. This seems legit, especially as the nation is growing in power, but v. 6 tells us that Adoniram the son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor. Forced what? The word for forced is the same word used in Exodus when the Israelites were ‘enslaved’ by Egypt. What was this slave labor for? Well for one thing, it was used to build the temple! Wait, what!? Slaves were used to build the Temple of the LORD? Yup. 

Now, you can go a couple of ways with this information. You can justify it saying, ‘it was normal back then’ and vilify how wicked those slaves really were anyway. Or, you can find this outrageous in light of Israel’s history and see the contrast between the holy and profane. I prefer the latter. 

But hey, with this “forced” labor the nation thrived. “Peace reigned (except for the slaves of course), everyone in Israel and Judah lived safe and sound” (1 Kings 4). The nation thrived with an abundance of military power, money, food, and livestock. WooHoo! We’re Number One!

Another jab that the writers make is that it took Solomon 7 years to build the Temple, which seems pretty impressive, until you read the very next verse that says it took Solomon 13 years to build his own palace. Hmmm, Why do you think these two verses are together? If you read on it’s pretty obvious.

Later we read that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, attacked the city of Gezer, burned all its inhabitants to death, then offered it as a wedding gift to his daughter when she married Solomon (1 Kings 9). Some people get wine glasses or toasters for wedding gifts, Solomon got a torched city. And who, pray tell, gave Solomon this gift? The pharaoh of Egypt? Remember Pharaoh? Remember Egypt? You can bet the early writers and readers of the book of Kings did. Throughout this book there is talk of great wealth and strength, at the expense of human life. Building a powerful army with trust in chariots and horses, building a palace and temple on the backs of slaves. It seems there’s a new pharaoh in town, and his name is Solomon.

When the queen of Sheba visits Solomon, she is so impressed with the accumulation of wealth and power (that the previous chapter told us was built by slaves), that she goes on to tell Solomon, “I know why you’ve been given all of this wealth and power, it is to maintain justice and righteousness.” Now, the phrases justice and righteousness, Misha, and sadaqa are interesting Hebrew words. Essentially she says, I know why you’ve been given all this, you’ve been given all this to help those who are downtrodden, to give people opportunities to make the world a better place. Be careful that you don’t just spend all this on yourself, because that would be bad, and it was.

Solomon would go on to break nearly every one of the laws Deuteronomy said that the king shouldn’t do. Acquiring great numbers of horses, taking many wives, accumulating large amounts of silver and gold for themselves, etc…

So how is someone supposed to point all these things out at the height of a nation’s prosperity? You write it down in plain sight. Right next to where it says Solomon was the wisest man around.

There’s nothing in the stories of David and Solomon that surprise me. We see it in our political systems today. I’ve been involved with the “religious world” for over 40 years and have seen a lot of BS from its leaders who act like kings. I’ve also seen some incredibly beautiful things that few will ever know about. What I find refreshing is that the Bible was written by men who had a story they felt needed to be told. It is the human element that I find the most inspirational. Not that King David killed a giant, or didn’t, or that Solomon was so wise, or maybe wasn’t,  but that people wrote otherwise and put them in the same book as if to say, y’all figure it out. 

If your whole argument for something can fit into a tweet, set of memes, or single thought, I’ve got news for you: it’s probably wrong. Oh, how I wish life were that easy, but it’s not. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could just read something without having to wonder whether it is being spun by someone for some reason? Well we can’t, not even in the bible. And believe it or not, I find that refreshing.

The Spin of Peasants & Kings

Most of us have heard of Oskar Schindler, from Spielberg’s incredible movie, “Schindler’s List”. He was a prominent businessman in Germany who saved the lives of 1200 Jews during World War ll. However, few of us have probably heard of Irena Sendler, a poor, Polish woman who between 1942 and 1943 rescued 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto in Poland. Irena was later caught and severely tortured by the Nazis to try and find out who else was involved with her rescue operation and Irena did not give up a single name.

Irena was virtually unknown until 1999 when four high school girls in Southeast Kansas did research for a school project and found her. At that time a Google search for Irena Sendler came back with only one hit, even though she was still alive at the time. Sometimes our heroes are in the spotlight and sometimes they live their lives out in the shadows of obscurity even though they do incredible things. 

There is a verse in scripture that is often overlooked, intentionally mistranslated or generally avoided. I think you will understand why. 

In 2 Samuel 21:19 we read: “And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.“

Many will immediately recognize the name Goliath the Gittite, and the phrase ‘whose spear was like a weaver’s beam’, because this is the name and description of the famous Goliath that King David was to have killed in 1 Samuel 17. 

Now, I know some will immediately feel uneasy by just the thought of there being two different accounts of a story found in their Bibles. My purpose isn’t to make you feel uneasy, but to maybe challenge the reasons you feel uneasy and how you might read the Bible in the first place. 

If you’re like me (or how I used to be), you will do a quick Google search to find a way to reconcile the two stories. You will find that some translators have actually added words to the text (often frowned upon) to coincide with the account written in 1 Chronicles 20 that reads the brother of Goliath the Gittite (KJV, NKJV, NIV…) A quick look at the footnotes, however, will show that the words, ‘the brother of’  are not found in the original. The conclusion is that this was a scribal error and the addition is justified by referring to the 1 Chronicles passage which was written perhaps 100 years later. Others will see this as a blatant contradiction and throw it all away and others still (myself included here) believe that something beautifully human is taking place and being brought to light for the purpose of a deeper conversation.

I think the reasons most would choose the David story over Elhanan’s is because it is a traditional favorite. David the young shepherd boy, obviously the underdog, comes out on top. With inspiring words, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied”. Total Braveheart status.

The former passage does not have the flare of the traditional favorite, it lacks luster and is dull in comparison, but the question remains, why is it here and which is true?

So why would anyone choose to side with Elhanan’s story? There are a few reasons. First of all, if you read 1 Samuel 16 you will notice that, “Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David”. King Saul calls for David personally and by family name to soothe him by playing music repeatedly when he was being “troubled”. It also says that Saul loved David and made him his armor bearer. But if you continue reading chapter 17 tell me if you don’t feel a total disconnect. It’s like you are reading a totally different story. In Ch. 17 Saul has no idea who David is and even asks Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner has no idea. Seems unusual when we just read that he was his armour bearer and how close David had become to king Saul in the previous chapter. Then, later in the story after David’s victory, it says that he cut off the head of Goliath and took it to Jerusalem. Why would he take the head of the fallen Philistine to a city which belonged to and was occupied by the Jebusites at the time? It reads as if the Israelites already occupied Jerusalem, which would not happen for years to come when David became king.

And finally, is it so hard to believe that there would not be an effort to spin the story of a King who was outcast and accused of trying to steal the throne from Saul? We have enough information about David to know that he had his issues: eight wives named (more not named), and an unknown number of concubines, the whole Bathsheba adultery thing then killing her husband Uriah to cover it up, the horendous mess with his kids raping and killing each other, then trying to overthrow his kingdom, plus the vengeful last request on his deathbed to kill those who had wronged him earlier. Can you blame someone if they had this story for not wanting to come out with it right away? 

We love our heroes larger than life – Saul killed his thousands, David, his tens of thousands. George Washington couldn’t tell a lie, and though he may not have actually chopped down the cherry tree, he sure could sing in Hamilton.

But what if there was a person who witnessed an incredible feat of valor and bravery, that was taken and used to promote a king’s status and appeal? What if someone knew the other story and couldn’t write about it at the time due to political pressure, but the picture and name burned in his heart, and in time, the truth, like a bird in an open cage was given wings to the page that Elhanan, the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. The unknown was given a place in the pages of the sacred, because even though we want our heroes to be bigger than life, sometimes they come in human frames and look common like us. Their names may never become a household word, but they are carried on the wind of 2500 whispers that will not be silenced. What if what we have in scripture are the accounts of men and women, their egos, and struggles for power, the good, the bad, the ugly and the truth as it was best understood at the time?

What I find captivating is that we get to wrestle with the whole picture. The writer of 2 Samuel knew very well what was already written and entrusted us to sort through the spin, and to so cleverly and beautifully draw us into it. 

I think I will write about King Solomon next.

Vaccine Mandates

I want to express that your concerns, questions, and fears regarding vaccines and mandates matter. I have friends who are afraid for themselves, their jobs and their children because of the COVID vaccine mandate. Those fears matter.

I think it’s wrong for government officials, or anyone for that matter, to simply disregard those concerns, poke fun at your fears or label you all, “anti vaxxers” without knowledge of what is taking place in your circumstances and life. At the same time, I have other friends who have been traumatized watching someone they love hospitalized or die from COVID and fear that those who are not vaccinated will allow the continuance of this virus to spread and branch into new strains. I think it’s equally wrong to disregard their pain, to call them mindless sheep who don’t care about freedom, without understanding their reasons and experience.

For us to bridge this gap, we need an environment of respect so that clear and honest dialogue can take place; one that can hopefully allow an openness to unbiased information. One obstacle that keeps this from happening is the knee jerk reaction to ridicule, which is aggravated further by social media algorithms that constantly feed us more and more inciting information. 

I want to give people a tangible practice to help with the fears they are experiencing. Reach out by phone or appointment to those you would look to for help if you or your child were to become seriously ill and need to be hospitalized. For most of us that would be our doctors or pediatricians. Ask them what their thoughts are on you or your child getting vaccinated or if they think you should jeopardize your job for this vaccine. I would rather you take advice from these professionals, than from me, or a YouTuber in a lab coat, or a nurse whose credentials can vary from CNA to APRN.

If you are not comfortable with your doctor or pediatrician’s advice, consider why. Maybe you need a new doctor, or maybe you need to re-evaluate your process in all this. 

By the same token, if you are afraid to go to work because the person in the cubicle next to you is not vaccinated and doesn’t wear a mask or you’re concerned that the kid sitting near your child at school is not vaccinated, talk to your doctor or pediatrician and ask if they think you need to be concerned. Don’t base your fears on an Instagram meme, or a person on TikTok vilifying the other group as stupid.

I have such empathy for all my friends who are stressed and anxious over these things and are unable to talk in a helpful way with people who could actually help. And though I have chosen to get vaccinated, I am so against the way things have been handled, the misinformation and how the media, because of bias (on both sides), has caused more mistrust. 

So, when you can’t trust the people in high places you don’t know, trust the people near you that you do know: your doctors, your pediatricians. And remember to be kind. Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about.

I Know You

One of my earliest memories with you is shopping Downtown LA. God only knows what you were shopping for or why I had to go. I remember you walking so fast that I had to run just to keep up. I don’t remember how old or tall I was, but I know you have never been over 5’ and have never slowed down, until this cancer. It was the only thing that could stop you from doing things like, flying to Florida and road-tripping back with your niece and her cat, or a quick trip to Texas and unexpectedly staying there for a week to help someone out. Or when Lauren said she wanted a frozen banana and you loaded her and Daniel up and drove them to Disneyland to get one. I see the shadow of you struggling to make its way down the hall, but I’m not fooled by what I see. I know you, I know the energy of your life. 

I vividly remember you crying. It is one of the strongest pictures I carry with me to this day. It wasn’t when you broke your thumb on the bumper cars at P.O.P. or was stung by a bee on Catalina island. It wasn’t even when they were sticking you with needles over and over again to try and find a vein for the IV to give you your chemo treatment. I was maybe 5 years old. My finger had gotten infected and the doctor had to cut it open to drain out the infection. Stronger than the memory of blood, fear or pain is that of looking over at you and seeing that you were crying too. In some strange way that I think only a parent can begin to understand, you were there in my skin. You gave me a gift of tears that day and it is probably one of the reasons I can only believe in a God who weeps. You may keep your emotions well and tell everyone not to cry around you, but I know you and I’ve seen you cry, just not for yourself. 

I was maybe 13, sitting at the dining room table after dinner, while you and your ex-husband fought. The fighting was so intense that don’t remember what it was about. What I do remember, was a 6’-1 over 200-pound man throwing furniture, and you not budging an inch. You were an unmovable force. Though I was terrified at the time, when I think back on that moment, badass is the word that comes to mind. It may not be a pleasant memory, but it is a powerful one. I see you now, stooped over, and weak, but I know you, you’re fierce, my hero and the strongest person I know. 

It was 1975, we were living in Topanga Canyon in a single room, upstairs of a converted old church (which looking back only seems fitting). You came home that evening and told me that you had just been born again. You said that you accepted Jesus into your life and proceeded to annoy the hell out of me for the next few months. I remember thinking, I could be as nice as you and prove that I didn’t need your Jesus, but you had nothing to prove and it wasn’t that you were nicer, a weight had been lifted, change was tangible in your life that I couldn’t explain or deny. Your amazing strength had bowed its knee to amazing grace and to someone stronger. I conceded to go to a bible study one night with the intention of impressing everyone with the lyrics I memorized from Jesus Christ SuperStar. I impressed no one but because of you, I too bowed my knee to a life surrendered to the one who surrendered His for us all. You can close your eyes, you can rest now, but I know you. You are forever, alive. 

Politics of Fear Part 1

I realize that as much as I don’t like bantering online over controversial or political matters, I still have done it a few times in the blogs I’ve posted. In each that I’ve written I’ve probably prompted more questions than answers, and if you know me, that’s intentional. As Eugene Ionesco, the French playwright said, “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”

Neuroscience has shown us that our brains function a certain way when we are creative and inquisitive, and another way when we are angry and afraid. When we are angry or afraid our brains go into a primal, survival mode in which the rear stem portion takes primary control. That’s why when you’re being chased by a pack of wolves (I hate when that happens), you don’t worry if you’re wearing the right outfit for the occasion, or stop to smell the pretty flowers. You just RUN!

In late 2016, 1500 people from Chapman University were asked to list their top 10 fears. Number 1 was corruption in government at 60.6% and number 2 was terrorist attack at 41%. People were more afraid of these two things than of their loved ones becoming sick or dying (38.1%), or of not having enough money for the future (39.9%). Coincidently, this survey was taken during the height of the political elections when those two topics were among the most talked about in the media.

If you pay attention, you’ll notice that we are being fed a steady stream of fear and anger from news feeds, talk radio, and TV news. The reason is because fear and anger sell and motivate. If I can make you afraid (or angry), odds are that I will get you to respond in one way or another and tune in for more tomorrow. We are told to be afraid of everything from refugees to presidents, from the food we eat to the medicines we take. Now, before you start thinking about how we should be afraid of one or all of these wolves I just mentioned, remember this: the only way to know when fear (or anger) is manipulating us and narrowing our thought process, is to stop running, breathe, and take the time to reason through the information (smell the flowers). How do we do that?

 The good skeptic

Question it before you believe it. Adopt a bit of a skeptical attitude especially from the sources you typically trust and go to first. What is the bias of the source (everyone is biased) and is that bias leading more than informing? Look for confirmation as well as disconfirmation from other sources. I’ve heard that to get an accurate assessment of something, you should research at the very minimum 5 separate and differing sources. This is how you are able to see things from varied positions and filter out what is meant to send you into panic mode. Remember the Ebola epidemic that never came? And who older than a teenager can forget Y2K? What happens with most people is they watch CNN and Buzzfeed or Fox news and Infowars (God forbid). They pull their information from the same biased sources to validate what they already believe. If you want to be well learned about a subject, it takes time and you need to show interest in understanding the opposing view.

Fake Check

It’s also obviously important to check to make sure you are not responding to fake news. Two of the top ones in 2016 were, “Trump Offering Free One-Way Tickets to Africa & Mexico for Those Who Wanna Leave America” and “Obama Signs Executive Order Banning The Pledge of Allegiance in Schools.” You can easily check if what you are reading is true by verifying them with Snopes, Urbanlegends or other fact checking sites. It’s astounding and sad how much fake news is posted and reposted, but it just proves the point that when we are provoked by anger or fear, we run with the false information before we smell out what’s true.

There are so many legitimate things to be angry about and there are plenty of people that have valid reasons to be afraid, but if we are really going to change the important things in our world, then we must be willing to take the time to see clearly where the problems are and strategize the best way to move forward.

I intend to write a second part to this and talk about the elections, abortion, and the refugee crisis, which I hope will lead to more questions.

Politics and Throwing Away Your Vote

 I think it’s time to ask some obvious questions like; how did the two least liked candidates get nominated to the most powerful position in the world? I believe the answer will point to corruption, control (money) and collusion. We should then ask; why do the voters of this country think there are only these two choices? I believe the answer will again point further into that corruption, control and collusion.

When revolutionary change begins, it seems hopeless and even foolish at the start. Minority blacks against an Alabama state governor, Christians against Rome, Gandhi against the British Empire, 3rd party candidates against the media established two parties?

History has shown that when a system is broken and will no longer listens to the voice of the populace, that people will begin to find a way to reclaim their voice. We need to find our voice again and not settle for the two being given to us. Now more clearly than ever, I think it’s time.

 

Awaken

There are so many things that we can be afraid of: cancer, losing a job, or even politics but I think the thing we really should fear is apathy.

Mark Twain said that men die at 27 and we bury them at 72. The will to live a full life of distinction is a wearisome road. It is marked with difficulties, self- doubt and betrayal, but the alternative is falling asleep in a bed of indifference.

I believe that there are alarm clock moments in life meant to wake us up and shine a light bright enough for us to see when we are living in a shadow of who we would really like to be. Not taking action in these moments, is like pressing the snooze button on life, before we know it, 9 years have passed. It is only when we answer life’s wake- up call that we begin to grow in ways we didn’t think we could, learn from things we didn’t think we should, and see what we never dreamed we would.

My friend and poet, Brian Oliva, wrote, “falling is always the first step in flying; ask anything that has wings.” Every awakening starts as a realization that something needs to change. The way you’re living, or the way you’re thinking, but change is uncomfortable and sometimes even brutal. Change will cost you your security, some tranquility and will most likely leave a lasting scar. The problem is there really is no turning back. Once you see what is true, you can’t un-see it, once words ring clear in your soul, you can’t un-hear them or ignore the affect they have deep within you.

Sometimes our traditions, family or friends will want us to stay where we are, to reminisce of the life we once lived, of the way we used to think, and the person we used to be. They will say that you’ve gone too far, that you’ve abandoned your faith, that you have lost your way, but their voices will only be a whisper to the true voice you have found.

May you hear the moments that life calls out to you and awaken you from insignificance. May you choose to fumble your way through the new frontier of who you want to be instead of falling back into the bed of complacency. And may you bear witness to life by being fully alive.

Coffee, Politics & Slacktivism

Recently the Oxford dictionaries added the word, ‘Slacktivism’, which means; “Actions performed via the Internet in support of a political or social cause but regarded as requiring little time or involvement.” Think about how many things you see, read or hear that fit into this definition. It is so prevalent that it has officially been given its own word. Everything from politics, unity against violence, to red coffee cups is supported or protested with a ‘click’.

Someone, somewhere, was apparently upset that Starbucks didn’t put Merry Christmas on their coffee cups this year (I didn’t know they ever did). I have no idea who was originally upset over this and I am guessing that most of you don’t know either unless curiosity pushed you to look into it further. I never read, heard, or saw a single post by anyone who actually believed that the lack of writing on a coffee cup was some kind of assault to his or her faith in Jesus. I did, however, see a grip of people commenting and posting things about why it was foolish for people (who no one knows) to be so upset about these said coffee cups. Some posts were serious, some humorous, but in the end I believe they were all pretty useless. After everything is said and done, the best thing that this produced was solidarity over something that was actually nothing.

I’m not against writing to make people aware of things that need to change. The problem is when we think that a simple ‘like’ or repost is all that we need to do to actually make that change. My experience in life has been that actual change is difficult and feels a lot more like swimming upstream than sitting and watching online videos.

It also seems that most of what’s done on social media is simply preaching to the choir, without much dialogue or serious interaction at all. We say, “black lives matter” or, “all lives matter”, shake our heads (or fists) but do little else to prove that any lives really matter to us at all. We have become activists without strength, critics without care, poets without courage.

We treat the “other” political party as if they are fools and criminals and would rather use fear and ridicule to shore up our base than actually try and understand an opposing person’s concerns. In my opinion, there are fools and criminals on both sides of the aisle, but there are also caring, and generous people on both sides as well. Regardless, nothing that is being pushed on social media in any way should ever stop me from being a loving, giving, caring human being in whatever ways I tangibly can.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God”

May we actually do the things that help make peace and show ourselves to be God’s children.

If I Could Travel Into The Past

If I could travel into the past to a point of time in my life, I would go back to the moment when my family was about to begin, when my wife was going to give birth to the first two of our four children. I would pull myself aside before entering the delivery room, point to my wife as she lay on the table, look myself in the eyes, and say, “That woman is going to need you now more than ever, for the rest of your life. In fact she is going to need more than you will ever be able to give so you better fall on your knees each day and cry out to God for wisdom, strength, and the ability to point her to the God who is big enough to handle all she will go through. Don’t do it with your words, but with your love, life, and actions. She is going to go to hell and back for this family and you have to be there when she needs someone to help pull her up out of the pit. Trust me when I say she will do the same for you, many times over.”

I would continue to tell myself, “the children you will have aren’t yours, but you are theirs. It’s your privilege to help them find their voice so that they can move on and live their own lives. But when life beats them down, they must always be able to turn around and see that you are still looking out for them. They will show you how to live without you even knowing it. And as you help them find their voice, you will uncover your own.

Also, don’t be so uptight. Have a drink once in a while and show your friends and family that you can relax and enjoy life without losing your integrity. Remember to smile, laugh, and love as well as discipline, grieve, and weep. Walk this tightrope of life as if it is the most natural thing in the world to do, because we are all bipolar in some way, or at one time or another. Don’t pretend you’re ok, you and I both know you’re not. And for crying out loud, don’t take yourself so seriously.”

I would then fall on my knees and pray silently for myself. I wouldn’t pray out loud, because I know myself, and I know that seeing someone do what I should, will always speak louder than someone telling me what I should do. I would pray for all the future events that will wound, scar, and cripple me. I wouldn’t pray for them not to happen, but that when they did happen, I would grow from them, and help others grow from them as well. I would also pray that every selfish, self-centered deed in my life would turn around and bite me in the ass, wake me from the slumber of my indifference, and push me forward.

I would then stand up and give myself a huge hug and say, “You’re going to need a lot of these, so don’t ever turn away the love that others want to give. You are not as strong as you think you are, but you are more powerful than you can imagine.” I would end saying, “Joshua 3:5 is going to be an important verse for you some day, so read it in wonder, believe what it says, and let it shape you for the amazing things tomorrow holds.”

Oh yeah, “Invest in Microsoft till 1995 or so and then in Apple after that.”

Then I think I would go get something to eat.

For Those Not Chosen

A couple of weeks ago I went to Mexico with a group from Genesis where, together, we spent the day with the children from Buena Viva Orphanage. We were the first group to spend the day with the kids the entire summer, so they were excited and even more so as we took them to a local pool to swim, play, and eat.

I don’t speak Spanish well, but I still had a blast in the pool with the kids and was even able to teach a few of the boys how to swim. It was great to see them swimming later that day with no floating tubes and with no fear. Better still was the hug I received when it came time to say our goodbyes. It emotionally moved me as I remembered teaching my own kids how to swim. It felt good to be able to do this for these boys who had no dad.

It can break your heart talking with some of the children and hearing their stories, but I think it would be more heartbreaking if no one heard them. One of the teenage girls shared how she has lived for years at the orphanage with her three younger sisters. When asked if she knew who and where her parents were, she said that she did. Her mother lived in another city with two other siblings, and her father in yet another city, also with two more siblings.

Imagine being a child and living with that situation? Knowing that each of your parents chose a life with your siblings, but didn’t choose you! What thoughts would go through mind? Would you think you did something wrong? That you were too much trouble? Or maybe they just didn’t love you? Imagine the trust issues these girls will have to overcome in their lives. We often minimize or forget the influence people play in how we relate to one another, or even how we relate to God. It’s very likely that these girls will have similar questions regarding God that they did with their parents. Whether they’re good enough, loved enough or chosen. As a father, just thinking about this breaks my heart.

It seems obvious we can’t fully understand God. He is, by nature, simply too vast but I believe we can get a glimpse of His character by what we see and hear from Jesus. After all, being human is something we intrinsically have in common. That’s one of the reasons Jesus spoke in stories and parables, to bring understanding to things that would normally be beyond our grasp.

There is a place in scripture where Jesus said, “If your child asked for fish, will you give them a snake instead?” He concludes, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11). In this illustration, Jesus is helping us to understand more about the character of God, in what we already naturally understand of ourselves. This is why the story of these young girls at the orphanage is so heartbreaking, because even though we are flawed and broken, we still grasp how awful it is for them to have to live in this shadow of life.

I pray that in spite of their situations and yours, whatever they may be, that they and we will understand as human beings the heart behind Jesus’s words: that if a sparrow falls to the ground our father in heaven sees, and that you are more valuable than many sparrows, that the very hair on your head is numbered and that if anyone comes to him, he will never cast them out.

We will be going back to Buena Viva in October, and it is our hope to let all these children know this very thing.