I am truly amazed by the strength of children, whether that strength be physical, emotional, or spiritual. This was brought back to me in force during the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics when the 9 year-old boy
Lin Hao was featured. Lin Hao was a victum of the May 12 earthquake near Chengdu, China. He was trapped in one of the collapsed schools. He was able to escape but instead of going for help he became the help and rescued 2 of his classmates. When he was asked why he did this, his response was, "
I'm the hall monitor, it is my job"
After hearing this my mind was brought back to a little girl in Romania named Ana Maria (we affectionately called her Poop-pah). It was a cold January morning in 2003 and I was on a mission trip with
Buckner Orphan Care International handing out shoes with their
Shoes For Orphaned Souls drive. We were in Targu Mures, Romania at the "Big Blue Orphanage." I had been to this orphanage several times before and participated in camps for the children living there. I met Ana Maria in 2000 at one of those camps, when she was about 7 years old. I am not too clear on her story but I know she had lived at the orphanage most if not all of her life. She was a tiny little girl and always had her head shaved, but she had a smile that was brilliant and when she smiled her eyes glowed with joy. She was about 10 years-old during our 2003 mission trip. We were at the orphanage finishing up our story time to a group of children and were about ready to pray and thank God for His love and provision, when Ana Maria spoke up and said, "After you pray, I will pray!" So after we prayed Ana Maria prayed,
"Dumnezeu, multimesc pentru creat..." When she had finished one of the translators, Cristina, put her hand on her heart, let out a breath, and said "do you know what she said?" Which I replied "NO" (becasue my Romanian is a bits and pieces sort of understanding)so Cristina told me her prayer, Ana Maria prayed,
"thank you God for creating me, thank you God for saving me, and thank you God for making all my days happy."
I was amazed that Ana Maria had nothing (everything was shared in the orphanage), she had no parents yet she was able to thank God for creating her, saving her, and making all her days happy. I recall the verse
John 14:18 - "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." Ana Maria has not been forgotten...She has a family with God as her Father. I was humbled and learned something from a 10 year-old.
Jason Lezak stormed back in the last 50 meters to win by 8 100ths of a second SMASHING the current world record by 4 seconds. I would like to say it was not close but even I could not tell who touched the wall first in slow motion, it was very close.
