92% of all homeless/poverty-stricken women will experience some level of abuse, either physically or sexually, at some point in their lives. 60% will experience such abuse before the age of twelve.
Reading statistics like that can be disheartening. In fact, it’s very easy to look around at this world and draw the conclusion that love will never win. It is easy to see tsunamis and disease and pain and greed and poverty and hurricanes and think that things are only getting worse and worse. And yet, Jesus came “not to condemn the world, but to save it.” Love has to win eventually, right?
The other day, I was with a group that was helping out at the local Boys and Girls Club. The majority of the kids at this particular club came from families that live at or below the poverty level. One of the guys who volunteers there has been putting on a Summer Olympics for the kids; the last several years, he has run the activities by himself. This year, our group decided we’d help. In life, there are things that simply will not get done unless you do them.
We showed up at the B & G with almost no idea what to expect, except that we’d be hanging out with kids for a couple days. Tyrone, the volunteer who ran the Summer Olympics, gave us a couple of responsibilities. However, the main goal was to simply spend time with the kids—many of the older kids at the B & G do not pay any attention to the younger ones.
On the second day, I noticed a young girl (who I later learned was 4 or 5 years old) crying—sobbing, really—as the other kids were getting ready for the games to begin. Now, this wasn’t just any little girl.
This girl, Vanessa, actually had a similar breakdown the day before when someone stole her water balloon. During that incident, I was able to get her to stop crying by asking her to draw me pictures of flowers and stars and telling her that they were the most beautiful pictures I had ever seen.
Because I was able to get her to stop crying the day before, I felt pretty confident that I could calm her down again. As soon as I noticed her sobs, I walked over and simply picked her up. She had her hands covering her face and buried her head into my shoulder, her body convulsing into uncontrollable sobs. It did not take long for my shoulder to become damp with tears and snot.
After a long while she wore herself out and nearly fell asleep with tears and snot dried on her face. As she neared sleep, I switched her over to the other arm so that my shoulder could dry a little. I held her for another hour or so, walking around and occasionally sitting down when I got tired. Noticing that she was barely conscious, it occurred to me that 4-year-olds haven’t quite graduated from the “naptime” stage of life, so another leader and I began looking for a place to lay her down.
We eventually had another person drag a giant beanbag to a classroom area that wasn’t being used and I asked Vanessa if she wanted to lie down and go to sleep. She immediately shook her head violently and started to hold on tighter. We asked her if she wanted us to read her a story and she again balked at the idea. Eventually, as my arms were wearing out and it became closer to the time we needed to leave, I just tried to lay her down on the beanbag.
As soon as she felt me starting to lay her down and let go of her, she clung on for dear life. She threw one arm around my neck and clutched my arm with her other hand and began crying harder than I had ever seen her cry. Immediately my dry shoulder got its own dose of snot and tears.
As soon as I began to let her go, she made it impossible. So I continued to hold her. 
As I held her and let her know that I wasn’t letting go, she began to stop crying. She just wanted to be held.
Soon our group had to leave. The director of the B & G searched for the information of Vanessa’s parents so that one of them could come pick her up. Unfortunately, she was dropped off by a friend’s parents and not her own. I handed Vanessa to the director and we left.
It occurred to me, as they were searching for someone to take her home, that home might not be much better. In fact, as the statistic above floated through my head, Vanessa’s home might actually be much worse.
There’s a very good chance that Vanessa doesn’t ever get held. There’s a good chance that Vanessa doesn’t have a shoulder to wipe tears and snot on.
Jesus said that he came to save the world. If you were to look him in the eye and ask him what his big action plan to save the world was, I think he’d look you in the eye and say, “You are.”
He says pretty clearly to us: “You are the light of the world.” He tells us to be the “salt of the earth.” We are called to be the body of Christ and to heal this world of the pain and hurt that exists all around us.
Because the truth of the matter is that there are things in this life that won’t get done unless you do them. There are things that only you can do. There is pain and hurt in this world that won’t get comforted unless you are there to wipe away the tears. There are problems that will never be overcome unless you overcome them. There are broken relationships that will never be healed unless you mend them. There is suffering that will always continue unless you stop it from happening. There are starving people that will never eat unless you feed them.
There are children that will never get held unless you hold them.
As soon as we realize this, love can win.
