Remember for a moment your childhood.  If you're anything like me, it was filled with love, joy, laughter, and lots of family. 

Now think about what it is like for those precious children who have no family.  No roof over their heads. No parents to tell them they are loved.  No bed to in which to sleep.

Instead, they face lives full of emptiness  They can be found sleeping on sheets of cardboard and sniffing glue as a means of forgetting reality. And they are only children.

With adulthood, they will face drugs, prostitution, rape, and violent gangs. Many will end up in prison.  And still no one will tell them that they are loved.

Think of the horror that would fill your heart if this were to happen to your precious children, grandchildren, brothers or sisters.

Yet all of this is a reality for children living on the streets of San Pedro Sula in Honduras.  Abandoned or orphaned, they have no hope. 

But one man couldn't stand by and let this happen.

Jorge Zavala is a man who, along with his family, is being used by God to save children from situations such as these and provide them with a roof over their head, food in their tummies, and be that someone who tells them that they are loved.  His story touched my heart, and that is why I am writing you today.

I'm sure many of you know already, but for those who do not, I am running a marathon this March to raise funds for Hogar de Zion, the orphanage which Mr. Zavala runs.  I dearly hope that one day God will use Josiah and I to be His love and blessing to the orphans of this world.  But for now, I will be a second-string blessing, and happily so.

But I cannot do it without your help!  First and foremost, I would be ever grateful for your prayers, both for the children for whom I am running, that they may know and love the name of Jesus Christ, and for myself as I continue to train.  I've only ever walked 26.2 miles before and  I can imagine running them is twice as tough.  But it's all done by the grace of God and the fuel of your prayers.  I can do all things, but only through Christ who strengthens me.

Second, I would ask that you pray and consider being a financial blessing to these beautiful children of God through my efforts.  During this season of giving, let us not forget those far less fortunate than anything we've ever seen in this country.  The U.S., even in it's economic downturn, is tremendously more fortunate than the majority of the world.  We have much for which we can be thankful and with this gratitude, may we in turn bless our Father in heaven. 

Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

It's for these beloved children of God, and consequently, it's for Jesus.

 

 

 

 

 

[God bless you]