There is Always a Place for You
This morning I prayed that God would break me in ways that he hasn’t yet. That today would be a day that I would look back on remembering that I would never be the same.Today I got to meet a young boy I have heard about for a long time, Ram Cung. We wrote letters to our friends Kendal and Eric, and I taught him to play candy crush. Each night, members from our team get to take kids we sponsor to dinner with us. So, as Ram Cung finished his letter, he motions to me that I should take him to dinner tonight as he points to me and pretends to eat with an imaginary spoon. I told him I would have to ask, and didn’t know if I would be able to (I had already requested to take another orphan to dinner with me). The kids in Myanmar know how to love people. It’s unexplainable to those who haven’t been, but my friend Rachel described it best when she said Myanmar is a magical place. The rest of the afternoon Ram Cung stuck by my side holding my hand. We kicked a ball around with a group of his friends. He walked me down to the soccer field during the boys soccer game and we sat together in our front row seats on the steps next to the field.
As the game was coming to an end, Ram Cung looks at me and says “you stay,” and points to the boys dorm and runs off. No more than five minutes later he runs down and sits right beside me, but as I look over he is dressed in his best outfit. He has on rolled up jeans, a polo shirt with dirt stains scattered, flip flops, and to top it off, his hair is in the form of nothing more appropriate than a frohawk.It didn’t take long for me to figure out Ram Cung had his heart set on going out to dinner with us… And my heart slowly began to sink as I knew we had a full car of kids with us already. As I spoke with some of our trip leaders to see if we could squeeze in one more, they told me they would talk with him. I looked up to see Ram Cung running down a hill toward me full throttle with a big grin from ear to ear. He was stopped in mid sprint by one of our leaders, and as he left them in a matter of seconds his face had dropped from a smile of pure joy to a broken face of sorrow.
He walked over to me, grabbed my hand and led me up the path to the leaders house. With his head hung low, we sat down on the steps together and waited for the soccer game to end and the rest of the kids and team to come up to load the bus.I sat by the window of the bus looking out to wave bye to Ram Cung, and as both of our eyes were filled with tears, I thought about the big picture. My heart wasn’t broken just because Ram Cung couldn’t come to dinner with us. My heart was broken because I knew Ram Cung wanted to join our party, but he wasn’t invited…..While I’m in Myanmar I should have a special painting arriving at my house that was made for me by Reggie Joiner’s daughter. It is a unique one of the last supper and at the top it reads “There is always a place for you.” Although, we didn’t have room for Ram Cung at our dinner table tonight, I know that He has a special seat waiting for him at our Creator’s dinner table.Today was a defining moment for me. You see, living my life full on for Jesus has been one big party, and I know that this life is just a sneak peak of the party I will have with my brothers and sisters in heaven. I never want you to look at my life and feel like you are not invited to the party, but my prayer as I move forward is that my life would be one that welcomes everyone to the feet of Jesus.. That you would find hope and purpose in this life on earth, and that you would see that your Heavenly Father is preparing a feast and you are invited simply because “There is always a place for you.”
