It was the last night of our kids krusade … we’d all had a long, hot week packed full of activities. With few hours of rest, the realities of life in a third world country were wearing everyone thin – although no one complained aloud. As we rushed to prepare for the evening’s service, we received word that the power was out across the entire village and there were no signs it would return soon. The local pastor informed us that we would likely have to cancel the service because it would be too dangerous for the children to walk along the roads in complete darkness.
While we were all disappointed to miss this service, there was an unspoken amount of relief knowing that we could relax for a few hours. After some time, we decided to travel to the church anyway just in case anyone did show up. We carried a couple flashlights and a small battery powered PA system.
I was unprepared for what we saw as we arrived at the church. Someone had already opened up the doors and lit candles in the windows. There were children walking down the path carrying whatever small light source they could find and the church was already half-filled with anxious children waiting to hear the Message. This brought us all to silence as we realized how precious and ripe were the hearts of these children that they wanted so badly to be in church this night. We couldn’t help but wonder how many children in our churches at home would be compelled to endure this much effort to attend church one more night.
Wiping away tears, we eagerly got busy with our makeshift service. We didn’t have the music and videos we’d planned to start with, but we had the love of Christ to share and this is all that mattered to these hungry souls. Oh if only we could all hunger and thirst for time with God in this way.