fernando

fernando is twelve years old. he is pudgy with jet black hair and warm round cheeks. i usually find him wearing a blue sànish futbol jersey. at the church, fernando is is quiet but pleasant, following behind the boys half his age and size. the buildings where fernando lives are behind the church. they are tall and rusted, stained with graffitied walls. there is a colo-colo mural painted on a back wall marking a futbol allegiance. the alleys are dark with shadows from the hot rancaguan sun. people walk the corridors at all hours. music comes from within the walls at all hours of the day. a small river runs beneath the stairways, in between buildings, probably from broken pipes. fernando walks with a spirit on innocence about him, much different than the other boys. how can a child surrounded by drugs, violence and poverty shelter such a soft heart?

pastor luis presented our theme for vacation bible school. ¨con christo en la familia, en feliz hogar¨, a seemingly ironic theme for the community that luis lives and now works in. each day, we taught about different parts of the family with reference to a bible story. i wondered about how these kids could grasp an idea of seeing christ in their families. i wondered how they could understand parents when their fathers deal drugs, come home drunk, if at all, and their mothers walk street corners late at night. they are raised by brothers and sisters who are only with a couple years of entering the same life as their parents. these families are drastically different than the ones we presented. how can they hope that god will provide for them? that god will remember them like abraham? and spare their lives like isaac? they are forgotten daily. their lives do not offer much room for a trascendent hope.

sunday morning. a remnant congregation arrived at iglesia del pacto. there was not much to the music or sermon. words echoed from the emptiness within the church. during the service, the large green door opened and fernando slowly wandered into the church to take his seat for the first time.

¨one of the strongest arguments in favor of christianity is the failure of christians, who thereby prove what the bible teaches about the fall and original sin. as the world goes wrong, it proves the church is right in this basic doctrine¨.
- g.k. chesterton