Why we do what we do...

Imagine you are a child of any nationality. At age six, you are the youngest of six brothers and sisters. You and your family live in a small home with no running water and no electricity. Therefore, you go to bed when the sun goes down. What else would there be to do? You have to have your homework done before the sun goes down because there is not enough light from the oil lamp to see. You go outside to use the restroom, alone in the dark. No porch light provides light nor do you have toilet to flush. You wake up when the sun does. For breakfast, you eat whatever food can be prepared without using electricity. A breakfast bar or snack cake or fruit. You have to be driven half an hour to catch the school bus. One parent works to support your family and the other is "away." They are both rarely at home with you.

After school, you stay with an "auntie" or "uncle" or "grandparent" that will provide food and shelter for you. You get off the school bus one day at one house, the next day somewhere else. Often times you are dropped off at a different house each day of the week. It is scary to leave school and not be sure where you will end up. No one is home where you were told to go and the doors and windows are locked. Your parent is at work and cannot receive calls there. You are scared-home is far away and even if you were there, no one is home to be with you until well after night fall. You have homework to do and need food and shelter. The bus driver drops you at a friend's house until your parents can pick you up. They weren't expecting you. Will they have enough food for their children and you? You won't return to your own bed until after midnight when your parent can take you there.

How important would it be for you (as this child) to have a safe, constant, caring environment to visit and feel secure? How important would it be for you (at this child) to know that God loves you, that you are important to him and that He has a plan for your life?

That's how important the work at the Red Sands Christian School and church is to all the Navajo children here. And how important this type of work is in all the missions like ours around the world. This story could be common here on the Navajo reservation, in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky or in areas of South America, Africa, and all around the world. Pray for the families and children and workers all around the world. Pray that more children will find their way here and to places like this. And remember how blessed you and your family are daily.