A tiny mud house. A candle to light the night. An entire soccer team in the front yard. And a dream built on hope, love and family.
Last weekend Keri and I went to Swaziland, where I met Petros and his wife Elisabeth for the first time. We visited their home twice while we were there. Up the mountain, down the dirt road, climb over the barbed wire until you see the small patch of Home in the community of Motjane.
Petros and Elisabeth live meagerly. They have very little for themselves and their children, yet they have spent the past years pouring into discipleship with YWAM Swazi and their local church.
They have 6 children, but have now taken on 7 more orphaned family members. Both Petros and Elisabeth have lost sisters recently and have welcomed their children into their home. They are now a family of 15, and their house is bursting at the seams. There’s not room for all of them inside, so a few of the boys sleep in a small hut outside.
We were welcomed in and served tea, bread and polony by one of the children who prayed over us before serving us. We chatted about the hardships, the blessings and the hope Petros and Elisabeth have.
My favorite part was when they invited all of the children into the small living room to sing for us – 13 kids in that tiny house beats movie theater surround sound any day!
I watched the children and the way both Petros and Elisabeth love them so tenderly. Over half of these kids are orphans. And there are 13 of them! If anyone should be lonely, hurting or broken, it should be them. Many times when I go to the feeding programs here with Ten Thousand Homes, children are desperate for touch and will wrap themselves around your or instantly fall asleep in your arms – or the other extreme, they’ll flinch when you reach out to touch them. Not these kids. You could tell in their walk, their talk, their interaction, and the way their family worked that these kids feel loved; they have hope; they are dreaming.
Petros can’t work for YWAM the way they have been for years anymore and he’s broken up about it. He doesn’t want to leave ministry, but he has to take care of these kids. There’s no one else.
Last weekend I got a first row seat to hearing God breath and vision into a cultural family obligation. It’s called the Road to Hope.
Petros and Elisabeth are not leaving ministry at all. They are starting at the roots. Their ministry, their harvest, is those 13 children who will grow up knowing who God is, knowing how much He loves them, and with a vision for their future.
They dream of building onto their house and using it as a base for The Road to Hope – a ministry focused on discipling families and raising children up to dream and have hope.
I just couldn’t believe the warmth and the overflowing passion and energy they had. Raising 13 children and wanting to do more. Can you imagine how long it takes to hand wash for 15 people!?! And the cooking! I get cranky when I have dish duty (with hot, running water!) too many days in a row or when the electricity goes out for a couple of hours.
Petros and Elisabeth give freely as they have been given freely. (Matthew 10:8) They don’t measure success in possessions or plans, but in love and hope.
Petros, Elisabeth and 10 of their 13 children
I’m praying this for myself and for you this week:
Wherever you are, let God breath vision there. Let us not become consumers of love, but givers of it. It’s time to stop counting and measuring. It’s time to see the darkness and shine the light there. Look for it – both the light and the darkness. Celebrate it when you find it, and bring it where you don’t.
No comments:
Post a Comment