Delays, Complications, and Childish Love

Right now I should be settling into my temporary home in Almaty, Kazakhstan, however, I am sitting in a lovely home of a friend in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This last week should have been filled with adventure and chaos, with defining moments and new beginnings, and that it has been just not in the area I had planned. My flight was scheduled to leave on January 6th, but Steven and I had some visa complications and will not be leaving until our visas are approved and in our hands which I am hoping is Wednesday, January 13th. At first I was upset that my plans were interrupted and that I was not getting to get to my destination in time, but once again I am reminded of God’s perfect timing. This past week I have had the privilege of staying with Daniel and Anita who are the proud parents of six new adopted children. These children are all brothers and sisters who were fortunate enough to be picked up by such wonderful and godly parents. With seven total children in the house, life is never boring. Every morning I go upstairs to the excited screams of little girls and the boisterous laughs of little boys. I have gotten to know each of these children individually and feel like I have had my own “mini-mission” before my long foreign mission. I have had the privilege of chasing these kids around the park, pushing them all on the swings at the same time, watching movies with them, and eating meals with them. Sometimes I wonder if I have been a help to Daniel and Anita or if I have just been winding the kids up and taking up space. Regardless, they have treated me so well and I have been had the privilege of spending time with them all.

No matter how many times I read it or think about it, I am always perplexed by the Biblical phrase “God is love.” These three words have a meaning so deep that my human mind only begins to scratch the surface. God is the definition, the source, the embodiment of love itself. The concept really gets weird when I think about how I am loved by love itself. I have done nothing to deserve the unending and passion-loaded love that God loves me with. God does not love me because I am loveable. God does not love me because of who I am, but because who He is. The first day I arrived, after meeting the kids for the first time and playing with them for a couple hours I went to bed. When I awoke I saw stuffed under my door a hand-drawn picture that said the words “You are the coolest boy ever.” I smiled as I realized it was from a boy that I had spent only a couple hours with, from a boy that hardly knew me. He may have envied my height or the privileges that come with my age, but to think I was the coolest boy ever was pretty extreme. As I went upstairs I was bombarded with hugs and smiles, bombarded with childish love. I gazed into the eyes of these children who I had barely met and realized that they loved me, not because they knew me or though I was deserving of their love, but because they are children and that is what they do. Children love unconditionally and without reason or cause. They love deeply and crave the attention of their beloved. They stand up for the ones they love and are consumed by a passion that seems almost incomprehensible. This is the love of my God. This is the childish love that He has for me. This is the love that I am to take to Kazakhstan, the love that I am to be consumed with and freely give to everyone I come into contact with. Jesus said that we have to become like a child, He said to love others as He has loved us. So let’s unleash this childish love that God has stored up within us.