Surrounded

Today I sit just inside the front door of a small house on the poor side of town. The walls are dirty, the linoleum floor is sticky and I’m sitting on it because there aren’t any chairs in this house. As soon as I entered, little *Wasfi scootched up to greet me and my legs melted just like my heart. So here I sit, holding him up as if he is a baby who is learning to stand on his own. Only Wasfi is not a baby. He’s five years old, though his weak body would suggest otherwise. 

The small entry room is full.

I am surrounded.

• Surrounded by a variety of people lying down, sitting up, awake, asleep, dressed and not-as dressed. 

• Surrounded by a variety of sicknesses: tuberculosis, skin disease, chicken pox, blindness, and muteness.

• Surrounded by a variety of ages. Three generations: from old down to the baby who will be born any day now.

All of this: right here in one room.

I’m overwhelmed.

Wasfi looks at me and smiles. It’s a lopsided smile because of his cleft lip. He is skinny and malnourished. He reaches out to grab my glasses. When he pulls them off my face I laugh, and he laughs. Wasfi has Down’s Syndrome but he’s the easiest one to communicate love to in this house.

The problems here are many.

I feel surrounded.

• Surrounded by poverty that wants to choke me like it has already choked this family, it’s victim.

• Surrounded by sin that wants to laugh at me as it sucks the life out of this family, it’s victim.

• Surrounded by lost souls stumbling toward eternity. The enemy of our souls holds this family victim.

All of this: right here in one room.

I’m saddened. 

During previous visits, Wasfi would scootch toward me, look up in my eyes, pat my hand with his, then return to his mom. But today he sticks with me. My heart is wrapped around his tiny finger because he is just so adorable. He cannot talk, or walk, or stand. But he is God’s creation and today I hold him for as long as he will let me.

I am surround by darkness. But the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. So, I refuse to feel discouraged because I know that the True Light can overwhelm the darkness surrounding this family. 

And when this happens, Wasfi won’t be the only one who “gets it”. The rest of this family surrounding me today, will see and respond to the Light.

All of this can happen: right here in one room.

I’m trusting.

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 1:5