meet Johnathan

This is Johnathan. I cant find a picture of him without someones sunglasses on. i met Johnathan at street kids camp the very fist month we were here. his personality has not changed drastically...but his heart has. When we started going to childrens garden more my little friend Johnathan started to stand out to me. he has a wild spirit and unending energy, its amazing really. Every day he was one of the first to greet us on our way in. Johnathan has quiet the story and i think that violence plays a huge part in it. Many times he had God provide a strange way out of many terrible situations. to me i think he sees nothing wrong with being a rough little boy. everyday for while there he would shake my hand and eventually shaking my whole arm until i pried it away from him. it was more obnoxious than hurtful. maybe i should have just said no right away. but slowly i started to just tell him no. and shake his hand politely. sometimes he would shake it nicely then look into my eyes and you could see it coming. at the end we was not completely gentle but he was not violent either. the last day i saw him i was wearing the staff polo shirt for the sports event we were at. it was hot. i had it unbuttoned at the neck, it was not inappropriate...its just that it was about 100 degrees out. taking the role of a big brother he made me button both of the buttons...he was worried about me. his eyes had been getting softer and softer each time i saw him, he still had his crazy spurts of johnathan-ness. but he was gradually changing, in his heart.

Through all things you grow.

whether it is saying hello to someone new or telling someone you love goodbye, you grow. God has a funny way of putting people in your life for a reason. i recently was a part of a family bible study on John chapter 9 where Jesus heals the man who was born blind. while we were discussing this chapter someone mentioned that maybe that man was born blind for that very moment in history where he could glorify God and give others a chance to see Jesus for who he really is.
These last two weeks have been pretty hard ones for me. We have just entered into our last three weeks of our time here in the philippines. and so the goodbyes begin. our 4 months here have been made completely of hellos and then quick goodbyes...but i know that i have been impacted by each person i have met along the way, and that is why we met, for however short of a time it was. i learned from you, and you hopefully got something out of me.
the most valued thing i will forever hold onto from this trip is the boys at Childrens Garden. I may have thrown in bits and pieces of these boys stories here and there....but they deserve more than that. i hope to go boy by boy and share a little bit of what i learned from him, we will see how it goes!