When I was little, I was the one who wanted to bring all the poor flea bitten, scrawny kittens home… When I’d disappear from the sugar plantation “open air church meetings” my parents led, they’d find me later, visiting some little old Guarani grandmother in her little thatched roof shack… Watching a race, I’d get a knot in my throat as competitors struggled along, bravely trying to finish, even when the winners were already being celebrated…
In 1995, when I arrived back in Bolivia searching for some direction in my life, God very clearly directly me towards a group of people I had never really even considered before… street kids and drug addicts… So… there I was… unqualified “professionally”, intimidated by my own weaknesses… but with a conviction that God had engraved them on my heart… burdened me… for a purpose…
Do you remember the song we used to sing from Micah 6:8? “He has shown thee… oh man… what is good and what the Lord requires of you… To act justly… and to love mercy… and to walk humbly in His sight…” Simple… and yet not…
I struggled on the streets to know how to “act justly”… What could/should I do if the police men came up to the kids… kicked them… beat them… yelled at them… to get them to move along and not hang out in that part of the market…
I didn’t know what to do… so… I’d step back into the shadows… try to “be invisible”… avoid watching… but my stomach would churn… and my heart would tighten… especially when their eyes would meet mine… “Why didn’t you do anything?” or when I’d hear their plea… “Corina!!!”
I’d sometimes see the policemen coming or the market ladies getting upset… and I’d try to get them to move to another spot before anything happened… I’ve been spit on… hit… glared at… …but that didn’t change what happened when I wasn’t there…
Then something happened to ignite my heart with a passion for justice… I went to the streets one day back in ’96 (?)… strangely, found no street kids… There had been a city wide round up of hundreds of street people…and they were taken to an unknown, not-easy-to-get-to “Mounted Police”… They were crowded in a small Olympic wire enclosure… standing room only… their hair rudely shorn, beaten… and hungry. When I saw them, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach… they started crying out for help… WHAT COULD I DO?
I didn’t have money… but with the help of some kind market ladies, I soon was back with a big bag of bananas and bread… The police men wouldn’t let me hand them out… they said they would… When I went later with more bananas and bread… the street people had never received the food I had left… This time I insisted on staying until I could hand out the bread… I guess the police men saw that I wasn’t going to leave ahead…
I will never forget the feeling I had… They’d try and climb over each other to get to the fencing… to stick their desperate fingers through the holes… pleading for a piece of bread… The people in charge of “discipline” (prisoners themselves) would yell out… “Don’t touch the fence!!!” and they’d bring down these big sticks on top of their heads… Here I was trying to help… and all I was doing was causing more pain and problems… I remember tears rolling down my cheeks… “Please don’t touch the fence!!! I’ll get a piece of bread for everyone!” WHAT COULD I DO? Every wanted my help… please call so-and-so… tell them I am here… Help so-and-so… he is mentally handicapped and shouldn’t be here… Please call my embassy, I’m a foreigner…
The next day I got smarter… I got there bright and early with an electric shaver… and said I was there to shave heads… The police men of course said no… I said I’d wait… I had all day… They finally let me shave “Just one!” - their favorite boy’s hair (a 10 year old)… Poor kid… I had never shaved a head before… In the end… they let me shave for hours… and hours… It gave me one on one time with dozens… without the pressure of someone hitting them over the head…
It might have been mid-afternoon when a big pot of “soup” was brought out… it was basically water… with a very small amount of rice pieces in it… and completely clean chicken bones resting at the bottom… From my “salon” I watched as they let the street kids out in small groups to eat… They were served in plastic bags, cups… whatever was there… utensils were completely unnecessary as they literally wolfed down the “food”… licking their bag/hands to get the last possible morsel…
As the day was coming to a close, a policeman said… “Oh… you must be hungry! You haven’t eaten all day…” Oh no… I wasn’t hungry AT ALL… He insisted on me going over to the “kitchen” that was off to one side of the enclosure… I felt 200 plus pairs of eyes on me… I ducked into the little room… my eyes adjusted to the darkness… One of the street girls – the cook – served me up a huge plate of rice, beans and meat… and served me up a big glass of juice…
How could I eat it? …knowing full well that it was made with food that should’ve been fed to the prisoners… The policeman was watching me… I ate one bite, smiled and nodded… He went away… feeling very kind I’m sure… I felt like I was eating a mouthful of gravel… Jorge was standing outside, his eyes huge… looking at the food…(a mentally challenged kid who the policemen said I could take with me)… Jorge finished it off in no time… later on the way home when I bought him bread and juice I remember him saying, “I don’t think I will ever get full.”
That horrible experience only lasted a few days… but through it, I met other Christian people with a passion for justice (International Justice Mission) who came in to act behind the scenes to do something about the inhumane treatment of the street kids… I devoured their founder’s book, “Good News about Injustice. A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World.” I HIGHLY recommend it… it gave me hope… and strength through the many, many, many verses in includes that talk about justice, God’s heart for the oppressed and the Christian’s responsibility in the face of injustice in the world… (From the foreword by John Stott: “I defy anybody to emerge from exposure to this book unscathed. In fact, my advice to would-be readers is ‘Don’t! Leave the book alone!’ unless you are willing to be shocked, challenged, persuaded and transformed.”)
I don’t in any way pretend to fully understand this topic… but it is something I embrace tightly because I am SO convinced that it is CLOSE to the heart of God. One of my favorite verses… Jeremiah 22:16 “He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the Lord.
Wow… I love this verse… If we miss out on defending the cause of the poor and needy, we might “know” a bunch of doctrine, we might have a “fine Christian life”… but we’ve have totally missed an incredible opportunity to know, understand and feel the heartbeat of our Lord and Savior…
Another major step in my journey in mercy and justice was meeting Marco… He has taught me so much… He has taught me to be wiser… to have my eyes open… to balance Mercy with Truth… Mercy without Truth has no substance… Truth without mercy is rigid and lacking in love. Acting out of “Mercy”, with good/pure motives ISN’T enough and can actually damage and dirty rather than help… Mercy needs to be guided, rooted in Truth… Truth needs to be packaged in mercy… The two must be forever intertwined… They are mentioned together in the Bible multiple times…
So… I have set mercy and truth before me as my goals… I don’t just want to help, have mercy and compassion… but to be just and true, holding firm to the Word of God… At El Jordan there are daily opportunities to put this into practice… and if anyone asks how they can pray for me/us, my request is always for wisdom and discernment…
Anyhow… in a very big nutshell (sorry!)… that has been my walk, learning in mercy and justice so far…
In the last month, I/we have been faced with a very difficult situation… involving people we know on both sides of the issue… There have been accusations of sexual abuse in a children’s ministry which unfortunately can’t just be ignored nor swept under a rug… The consequences and ripple effect reach so far that I don’t even want to think or imagine the extent… I would have preferred to be a bystander in it all… like years ago in the market, in the ugliness of the situation, step back into the shadows and try to be “invisible”… not watch… not get involved…
But I can’t do that anymore… With what I know about Justice… Mercy… and Truth… and where the Christian should stand in situations of injustice… I can’t be a bystander when I teach others to search for justice… and when I teach others that God is a God of Justice and Truth… I can’t be a bystander because girls (who used to be in the home) have confided their stories in me.
It would have been easier not to listen. …but, how could I NOT listen? I’m not the first person they have talked to… I’m ashamed to say how many Christian people knew something about this awful situation but didn’t earnestly seek to find Truth… and yet I can’t point fingers – because I was in the same silent spot, different situation, years ago… (Nor am I the only one asking that there be a serious investigation so that Truth can be revealed… there just seems to be very few…)
The accusations of multiple girls are in the hands of Bolivian justice… the accused is presently in jail, awaiting trial… I don’t trust Bolivian justice… its known to be corrupt... I look at the girls and they probably don’t have extra money for their personal needs let alone for a trial… the accused man is supported by the multiple lawyers, churches and an international organization… The ladies who are defending the girls are being helped with their expenses, but aren’t getting paid… It all seems quite unfair and lopsided… but that’s where I have to put my trust in God… the Father of Justice… and Judge over all…
In wanting the girls to be heard fairly and desiring Truth to be revealed, I’m not acting as judge declaring the different sides innocent or guilty…. but unfortunately my involvement has been misinterpreted as “trying to destroy a brother in Christ”… “trying to bring down another ministry” (!!!)… which was the farthest from any of my reasoning in getting involved in this…
What I would ask YOU is for your specific prayers:
· That Truth will be Revealed and any lies be frustrated
· That any corruption in the trial process would not be permitted
· That God would provide for the girls… and encourage Samira and Fanny who are helping them…
· That though all of this, EVERYONE involved will hang onto Micah 6:8… to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly in HIS sight…
· Wisdom and peace… for Marco and I…
· For God’s protection for El Jordan and our family.
· Working relationships within El Jordan have been affected. Abraham, our administrator, is closely tied to the accused man and his family and he hasn’t been able to understand the choices I have made. …and I think he might chose to leave his job…
“Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
The LORD gives sight to the blind,
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
The LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the alien
And sustains the fatherless and the widow,
But he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The LORD reigns forever,
Your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD."
Psalm 146:5-10
We serve a Mighty God. Let’s do what is right and good in His sight!
May He find us faithful…
Corina for Marco too…