We know that God allows us to experience certain things to help mold and shape us to be more like him and ready for service...yet sometimes I think about how much our kids are seeing here in Honduras and I wonder how this is molding and shaping them. Today when Lilly came to me with that worried look on her face to tell me that there was an “old” man at our gate I was forced to have to think about this again.  Her look of concern wasn’t for her safety. It was for the elderly man who obviously was in need.  Without our Father in this picture one could easily say that these things will mess them up.  My human tendencies tend to pull my thoughts in that direction as well.  What good could come out of our children seeing an elderly man sitting at our gate, a boy lying on the streets, a man stumbling about with a glue bottle tucked under his shirt, the homeless man sleeping on our steps, the children with their faces pressed upon our car window telling us that they are hungry, the mother with her small child begging on the streets, or hearing their new friend’s story of losing everyone he loves and becoming an orphan.  These things are hard for an adult to take in let alone a child...yet I am reminded that He is clothing them with the perfect combination of compassion and love, justice and mercy, kindness and generosity, courage and perseverance and most importantly He is building their faith and trust in Him.  They are asking some hard questions...they are seeking answers and that is what you must see when a child is finding their own faith and not just leaning on mom and dad’s faith.  So while these things are penetrating not just our hearts but the hearts of our children we must keep praying that they will grow in their knowledge and understanding of Christ and turn to Him when they don’t understand and are filled with grief for what they have seen.  And so when the world around them is dim I pray from Psalm 63:8 “Lord, please instill in my children a soul with a craving for you and a heart that clings passionately to you.” For it is only with Christ by our side that we can witness such need (or experience such need) and still be filled with hope.  And really that is the way it is no matter where we are.