compassion.

There are so many things in our lives that need proper documentation. I can write blogs all day, but I wish there were more people listening into our conversation and catching glimpses of the chaos that we call life.

Stephen is hilarious. He is constantly saying things that are funny and blog-worthy, but I’m not quick enough to write them down or clever enough to remember them. And for that matter, I’m not funny enough to get them out in the same way that made me roll with laughter.

But really, what I have loved seeing recently, is Stephen’s compassion. I wish had a way to capture it, to show so many how well he loves here.

One of the ways I have seen his heart the clearest is in watching the little girls grow up. So many of the little girls and little boys grow up so quickly, having to work too early. We start to see twelve-year-olds bicycling down the road with flowers to sell in the market.  We see a fourteen-year-old with her nephew on her hip because his mother is in prison.

We live in a place where human trafficking and prostitution are far too common and far too visible. The realities of it are often in our faces throughout town. But it has really hit us hard as we see some of the little girls we met just a couple years ago grow into an age where these things become a real danger and risk.

It is one thing to hear of a little girl being trafficked on the news or to read it in a book. It is another thing to see girls in the backs of trucks or standing in front of bars.

And it is another thing entirely to see a girl that you know her name, that used to play with dolls on your front step, that you handed a Christmas present to, get a job at a new restaurant in town with a questionable reputation. To see her dresses get shorter, her clothes get tighter, and then see her bicycle off to work on a Saturday night.

It’s a new level of heartbreak; it’s a new level of helplessness.

But in these dark places, that is where Christ shines. That is where I see Stephen pray for these girls; I see him work to protect the innocence of other little girls.  I see him dream of ways to provide other solutions. I can’t tell you how many times he has said he wishes we could start a coffee shop and hire all the thirteen to sixteen year olds. Not to encourage child labor, not to creepily hire little girls; but to protect them, to give them a way out. To give them a safe work environment.

We haven’t started a business yet. But until then, Stephen works to give them a safe place here, where they are treated as they should be treated. Where they can play badminton after a long day of work they shouldn’t have had.

As I write this, he is out practicing Burmese numbers and laughing with another little one.

I’m so thankful for this. I’m thankful for his compassion and for his care for those around us.

Today I heard Dave Barnes’ Good World Gone Bad lyrics:

I’m told, at days old she was left on the steps of a preacher’s door
Mom & Dad, they felt bad, but that was one more problem that they didn’t have
What would it take to change their minds?
Just one more someone left behind

It’s a good world gone real bad, and only love can bring it back

Now she’s thirteen and it seems she wants to look like the girls on the TV screen
She stayed thin, she won’t grin, but a tiny little friend keeps calling again
What does it take to changer her mind?
Just one more someone left behind

It’s a good world gone real bad, and only love can bring it back

That is precisely what I’m thankful for: that Stephen isn’t okay seeing one more someone left behind. He’s willing to take on the aching problems of those around us, love on them, and not leave them behind.