|
|
LOS DESECHABLES
Mark and Barbara Stringer, missionaries to Colombia, South America, recently wrote an article entitled, "Disposable People". Today’s society has disposable clothes, cups, diapers, plates, etc., so why not have disposable people. This is a reality in parts of Latin America.
Los Desechables are the beggars, the drug addicts, the homeless children and the insane. Some sleep under bridges or on the streets while sustaining themselves through prostitution or stealing. Many are addicted to sniffing glue because they say it keeps them from feeling hungry.
When there gets to be too many on the streets of any one city, the city fathers have been known to order the police to load as many as they can catch into a stock truck and deposit them just outside the city limits of a neighboring city. These people do not usually live long in their harsh environment, but on occasion, when there is a lot of thievery, a death squad will speed up the process at night.
A disposable little black boy was abandoned on the streets of Bogota over 30 years ago, but his fate was different. The orphanage directed by Mark and Barbara took him in. Warren and Phyllis Sanders, also Colombian missionaries, adopted him. They saw God’s image in him, not a disposable person.
He became a good preacher of the word, an accomplished musician, and editor of a Hispanic newspaper in Washington D.C. before returning as a missionary to his native land. It should come as no surprise that among the many hymns Martin Sanders has composed, one proclaims that In God’s Eyes No One is Disposable.
Who are Los Desechables of American society? They fill our jails, prisons and reformatories beyond capacity. The L.A. County Jail is known as California’s largest mental institution. Out of sight, out of mind.
A wise man once wrote, "Do not do what seems to lie in the future, but attend to those things at hand." Is there even one disposable person in your local youth detention center, city jail or community prison in whom you can see the image of God? Go to that person. Dare to love God through them.
A little girl was late for dinner and explained she was with Sally who fell and broke her new doll. Her father said, "Oh, did you stay and help her fix her doll?" The little girl replied, "Oh no, daddy, I don’t know how to fix dolls, I stayed with Sally to help her cry."
Sometimes, and often initially, all we can do is visit the prisoner and help him pray. Then the life-changing relationship begins.
|
