Loving them like Christ did!

I'm in Congo right now-been here for about a week on Christmas vacation visiting my family.  Thank the Lord my dad and sister got in from Senegal last night-they were held up a day because the of fighting going on in Cote Ivoire.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit two orphanages here in Brazzaville.  The first one we went to only had a few kids when we arrived, so we didn't stay long, cause we had to visit another orphanage.  But what really touched my heart was how excited and loving these kids were to see me and hug me when they'd never seen me before.  And what amazes me over and over again, is that these kids will be overrly joyful to see you everyday!  Like-it doesn't get "old" for them to see us all the time.  The down-part of my day going to see the children was hearing some of their stories how they ended up there-but not only that, what all could I do to help?  I don't have much money that would make a "dent" in their life, and I'm not even here long to be with them-what I possibly do for them.  It was then that my friend Barb Sorensen (a missionary here with the C&MA) reminded me of the most practical and effective way of showing a represenation of God into these kid's lives-Loving them like He did!  A lot of times I forget that simply loving someone shows a lot of who He is and goes a long way in one's life.  To these kids, they didn't have much, and they weren't in an orphanage that shared God's love everyday.  It brings me back to  "it's all about building relationship" that reminds me of how we are to share God's love.  Someone asked me how can people possible establish relationships in a short period of time (relating to short-term missions).  And when I think of the kids at Hope House (the orphanage in Libreville, Gabon) I think of how much of a testimony they will be able to declare when they grow up and look back at all the times the Interns, work teams, and missionaries spent with them.  To see all the joy, excitement, and love that these children take in when short-term teams come to visit, there is nothing that can convince me that these children will not remember "us."  Some of them later on in life will hopefully look back and be thankful that someone came to spend time with them, to love them, play with them, sing and dance and play soccer with them even though they didn't know a lick of french.  Maybe because of the time you gave up to Love someone, they experienced Christ. I pray you will do the same!