Where is Kevin now?

A few people might remember Kevin.  We ran into him and his mom with a few groups last year.  It was quite obvious getting to know his mom that she has mental issues that are "unresolved."  They lived on the street.  Kevin was not in school.  It was obvious Kevin was not learning manners.  It was further obvious Kevin was living a hard life.  And then I heard from Jana that she saw Kevin and his mom around the clinic last week.  What to say, what to do.  Hmmmm.  We had discussed amongst ourselves last year about what options there were for them...what could be done.  We prayed, we gave them food, we played.  But what lasting could be done?  More hmmmmm.   And then Jana saw Kevin's mom again today.  Her father and step-mother reported them, and had the IHNFA (Honduran Child Protection if you will) take Kevin away from her, for his protection. 

So this is good, right?  Well...now his mom feels completely alone, and further lacks direction.  Kevin is in a broken system that is much worse than a simple orphanage where he could form at least some form of roots and friends, but where he will be moved with some constancy, facing new challenges, hazing, potential abuse and dealing with other kids that might be coming from even much worse circumstances.  Wait...was I talking about where he is, or where he was?  Hmmmm.

 

Life on the street with no little hope of escape in the situation he was in....to life in different homes with little hope of escape in the situation he is in now. 

 

By far from a perfect solution...by far from a perfect world. 

 

And so here I sit...with prayer, but no answers.  With ideas (we could start an orphanage....a school!) but not with God pushing us in any of those directions...yet. 

 

Like many other things in life, I say to myself and God "I do not get it!  What is the plan?  What is going on here?  I want answers!"  And in those moments, I think of Job and his much more drama filled problems, and his reaction after God answered him....in a more colorfully put way in The Message (Job 42:1-6)

 

Job answered God:

“I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.
Nothing and no one can upset your plans.
You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,
ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,
made small talk about wonders way over my head.
You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.
Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’
I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise!
I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”

 

I still pray, but not in anger but in anticipation of the One that can turn around circumstances, change the seeming sure failure, and loves the little children...and big children too.