2 sacks and a shoebox

Today brought back the reality of why we are here. As we were pulling up to tour an orphanage, I noticed a young boy standing alone with 2 plastic sacks beside him and clutching a shoe box. He looked nervous and a bit scared. On the other side of the parking lot were some adults with some official looking papers and the orphanage director. I looked back at the boy and noticed that he was 'dressed up' according to his standards. He was wearing a short sleeve collared shirt buttoned to the top with his dingy t-shirt sleeves hanging below and his dress pants probably fit him perfectly a couple of years ago.

As | witnessed the scene, it brought so many emotions to mind: Why him? Why not me? What conditions could force a parent to do this? How can a child possibly comprehend what is happening? What is he thinking? Will he ever see his family again? As witnessed too many times by so many orphans, they are abandoned by their families at the time they are dropped off and never see nor hear from them again.

As the tour ended and we came back around, one of the adults came over to the boy and brought his bags to the director's car and the boy followed clutching his shoe box. As we drove off, I couldn't help but keep looking back to see him and to plant that image in my mind. I longed to reach out to him to tell him that God loved him and to just believe. But, instead, I just rode off and said a silent prayer for him as tears ran down my cheeks.

May we stop to assess our problems and compare them to a small boy in an orphanage with only 2 sacks and a shoebox.