I’ve been showing you the handprints of our kids.
We can’t show their faces. They live in a place where showing pictures, listing names, even naming the country would magnify the danger they already face from the traffickers. So the handprints are a way of creating a sense that we’re personally connected. However, 22 handprints at a time is almost another way of losing them in a crowd.
So…I picked one. I invite you to look at it with me, to imagine a child dipping her little hand into purple paint and pressing it onto the page. Does she giggle at the result? Does she compare to her friend? Does she understand why people thousands of miles away want an image of her hand?
As the teacher reminds about bike riders raising money, does she think about her mom and why they’re separated? How much does she know about the horrible, dangerous place her mom’s forced to work? Does she understand the evil from which she was rescued?
Does she daydream about freedom, about graduation and a family?
Does she know Jesus holds her in His hands?
I’ve no idea if any of this actually happened, but the imagining reminds me that this purple masterpiece represents a real child with unique hopes and fears and dreams. A child rescued from the awful evil of sexual slavery. A child with an opportunity to live and grow in freedom.
Each of these children is a special, precious child made in God’s image. We love and support them just as Jesus does.
One at a time.