A Child’s Heart: Update on March 4, 2010

Jamaica has been a tough place on my psyche for some odd reason. I have felt a bit frustrated, mainly in Montego Bay, at the people. I switched out of deck into the I-café last week, and it has been a relaxing change, and a welcome one. The only problem is the manner in which people in Jamaica buy things. It seems to me that they feel it is something like a market, and all of them crowd around saying what they want. Usually the Good Lord gives me the strength to have patience in those times, and sometimes even laugh at the difference. I haven’t cracked yet, and have chosen to not be stressed by this. On top of all of those times we shifted and got jerked around in Montego Bay, I have had a relatively negative view of Jamaica.

Well, lately I have remembered one key principle from my travels and from the hand of God; people are people, everywhere. Although culture is a heavy influence at times, people are also victims of their past and this earth. People all have vices, all have love, and all are different, while being similar. God charges us to love people regardless of our preferences of those whom we understand. Christ charges the task of showing love in the face of evil, in hopes of them turning. Christ charges us to love like children even those who may harm us, because that is how he loved. He loved unhindered, and unbiased; true love. So few humans have given true love, while all of us have received, when we wake up, how ridiculous is grace?!

With that said, I had an amazing opportunity yesterday to go to a children’s reading center in one of the most troubled places in Kingston. The objective was vague as we were to go and just be with the kids. When we got there, we introduced ourselves (four of us) and one of the guys read David and Goliath from the bible, then the teachers told us to decide what to do next. When we mentioned soccer, all the kids went crazy (except a couple girls), so we went out to it. During the course of the game, new kids flooded the dirt field. The kids were in the ages from 3-14 and there were tons. All the really young kids hung around the goal posts chasing each other. Eventually I started playing with them as well as playing soccer. They would chase me around and I would throw them around. Eventually the older kids wanted to be thrown around, which I did because I’m a softy for kids. One kid told me “I wish you were my dad.” I didn’t really know how to respond. They loved me easily and unbridled. They trusted me with their lives to throw them. Even in the violent world they live in, these kids know how to love more than almost any adult could boast.