Giggles and Desert Dust: A Story of Jesus' Love

Their giggles lifted with the dust as they scooted apart on the dry desert dirt, splintering themselves into two groups.  Mukesh, the oldest boy, sat gangly and proud, enthroned in a chair facing them.  They squirmed with delight as the story unfolded.  "One day, a group of children came to Jesus."  The group with the tiniest children bounded in front of Mukesh.  Delighted with his role, Mukesh responded to as Jesus, opening his arms to the tiny ones before him.  "But the people with Jesus pushed the children away, saying he had no time for them."  The older children jested playfully at the tiny ones, sending another cloud of dust into the crowd.  "Jesus loved the children, though, and blessed them!" 

As if they'd just heard the unimaginable, their eyes rose slowly above the dust, flooding with an almost-tangible awe.  Their dirt-smeared faces brimmed with desire for Someone who would courageously defend His love for them that way.  But they would never even dream of that.  Not a Banjara child.

Despised as the untouchables of society, the Banjaras are believed to be under a curse of by-gone generations, a pronounced judgment of a cowardly king who feared dethronement after the loss of a war.  Legend holds that because the Banjara people made the weapons for the lost battle, they were punished with a curse that ousted them from society and forbid them from owning land or even living in homes.

With sun-worn pieces of fallen billboard plastic draped over bamboo frames, their makeshift huts now nestle into abandoned lots between apartment buildings.  Squatting on the unowned land, they have no rights to electricity or water, forcing them to walk to wells to draw the day's water.  By night, fires crackle outside each hut, the only light glowing in the eerie darkness.  Mystic chants to faceless gods pollute the shadows as drunkenness drowns the tears of broken hearts and hopes, shattered by the curse that culture continues to hold over them.

The caste-bred culture of India pushes the untouchable Banjara children away. Challenging the local culture, the church began reaching out to the Banjara children in the face of opposition.  Compelled by the same Love that drew the children in and blessed them, the church not only reaches into the villages to share the Love and Hope of Jesus, but also draws them out of their segregate communities to attend school.  Defying those who fear they'd fall under the same curse if they tried to help the Banjaras, the church is educating the first generation of Banjara children not only in reading, writing and arithmetic, but also in relationship with the One who said, "Let all the little children come to me," (Mt. 19:14).

For children like Mukesh, the church has been life-giving.  Abandoned by his despondent parents, Mukesh was left to beg from the families of his desolate village.  In desperation, one of the fathers brought Mukesh to the church's school, begging the pastor to admit him.  Now receiving a proper education, nutrition and Cristian discipleship, Mukesh has found Life - life abundant and free.

The red stone school rises as a testimony of how the church has challenged culture for hundreds of children just like Mukesh.

• Pray for courageous leaders who will not be afraid to challenge local culture to cultivate Kingdom culture.
• Pray for compassionate leaders who will see beyond cultural norms to the things that break the Father's heart.
• Pray for rising generations to find freedom in Jesus from bondages of generations past.