Fridays are hectic in Swaziland. Especially the final Friday of the month. It tends to be THE payday for so many, and the day that the stores are flooded with people. After leaving the children’s cup office today, I went to our market to pick up groceries. A young man (perhaps 10) was in the parking lot area and said “Please sir, may I have some bread”…my heart still breaks when someone so innocent asks for anything. I said that I was going to collect groceries, but I would bring him some bread.
Guilt and conviction flooded me as I walked back out-groceries in tow. Yogurt, eggs, fruit and a ginger soda for charlotte(not feeling well)…and of course-bread. As I handed him a fresh made warm loaf of bread from the bakery at the market, his eyes darted to the sacks I had just loaded in the car…as if to say “you have so much, and have only given me a loaf of bread”. I knelt down, hugged him, invited him to come to the church and offices, and told him to make sure and head straight home(not to walk in the dark).
As I got in the car-I found myself weeping. Perhaps it was from an emotional week(we had another child die this week, and a number of concerns/issues crop up), perhaps I was just a bit more tired than usual, or perhaps I just feel convicted all the more about what I have and others do not. There is much more I could have done for him…and yet I sent him away.
Still learning and wanting to be like Jesus, but still failing and missing the mark.
m
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