The door of hope

http://www.joburg.org.za/images/stories/2011/June/door_top.jpg

I love a good story. 

I enjoy listening to what people have to share about their life and the experiences they have.

This has been a week of story listening. 

We each have a story to tell. Our story is unique and belongs to us.

Some of the stories I heard this weekend were uplifting and good. 

Like the ones about the gangsters who are set free by hearing about Jesus and what he has done for them , on the cross.

 Prison ministry is alive and well and brings real hope for people who are right at the bottom of life.

The stories people shared with gratitude of one of our teachers who has written personal, individual letters to each of his team members he coached, was a delight.

The effort and hard work that some parents sweat at to help their child pass. The sms that brought the news that indeed he had and much more than that, he had passed excellently.

Stories of hope.

Stories of love.

But then...there are also those stories, the ones that break a heart.

Living in the South African context there are many of these kinds. The ones that break the heart.

The Door of Hope is one such story. The excellent and loving work that this NGO does in JHB, taking in those abandoned babies. The ones no one wants. 

The interview highlighted for me, the facts of baby abandonment in SA. It is catastrophic and deeply saddening. It is overwhelming!!

Living in SA is often both deeply saddening and overwhelming.

Lord, please give us grace.