One time for the boys.

Aside from the obvious (a group of boys playing with fire), what do you notice when you look at this picture? 

I see hope. I see family. I see a second chance. I see a place of belonging. I see Jesus. 

Yet my heart breaks because we live in a world where children are born slaves, where children are cast aside, where children lose their innocence, where children are born hopeless.

No child should ever feel or go through any of those things, ever.

Because most of the the focus is on women and girls being sold into sex trafficking and slavery, boys can be easily forgotten. What do little boys do when they don't have a mother to care and love them? What are little boys supposed to do when they don't have a father to teach them how to become a good man? What happens to them? 

I know that my posts bounce from humorous shopping experiences to mental breakdowns, but this picture had me thinking about things outside of myself, about children who don't always get a great first chance or even a second chance. 

The boys at RNhu are so lucky (all the children are)! When you walk into the home, you see children playing and enjoying each other's company. They are taken care of. They are well fed. They have a roof over their heads and clothes on their bodies. They are loved.

And I look at the picture and think to myself, what would become of these boys if they didn't get this second chance? What would happen to all of the children in our homes, if they didn't get this second chance?

These children will never know what it feels like to be sold. These children will never know what it feels like to be used or mistreated. These children will never be used as objects for the perverted. These children will never be trafficked. These children will never be slaves. 

I look into these faces and I see future soccer players, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and so much more. Sometimes there's frustration, but I always see hope in each and every face and that kind of hope is contagious.