A Heartbreak Moment

I have a had busy last few days, so I haven't been able to post this. This past Thursday, I was volunteering for an organization for my Vocation of Ministry project. The organization my class small group chose to volunteer with was called Step-by-Step. It is an organization to help single mothers. It brings together single mothers for an evening every two weeks and provides child care for their children.

Several of my group members and I were put in charge of watching half of the four year old boys and girls there that night. The hardest part for me was not having to carry around the one boy who only wanted to be held or watching some kids mess up other kids play areas when they were playing nice.

The hardest part involved a toy wrench in the room. That night, several of the kids in the room picked that toy. The heartbreaking thing was that they all thought it was a gun. They all pointed it at me like they had a hand on the trigger ready to pull it. As much as I tried to show them what it actually was, all these kids saw was a gun. It was just heartbreaking to think that many of these kids were probably surrounded by a culture that would have them seeing a gun in something like a wrench. It really gave me a gut check to the culture surrounding me that I can all to often lose touch with in my seminary bubble. My eyes have been opened wide again.

I want to give a lot of credit to the people at Step-by-Step for having the heart and passion to intervene and provide help for the people involved in the program. They are doing a great work in the lives of these women and children and the community. I would encourage anyone with a heart for a ministry like this to look up the local Step-by-Step in your area and get involved. Praise God for all of you.