LAST NIGHT...

Last night our children and grandchildren slept in warm beds snuggled up with their favorite stuffed toys.

Theirs—too many to count—lay without cover on the cold ground.

Last night ours giggled at the clever bedtime stories and begged for more.

Theirs pleaded with the abusers, “Please don’t hurt me again tonight!”

Last night ours had a nightmare that someone was hurting her.

For so many of theirs it wasn’t a dream.

Last night ours sat at a supper table with an abundance of favorite foods.

Theirs tried to think of something else as the hunger pangs wracked their little bodies.

Last night Mommy knelt softly at our little boy’s bedside and watched him sleep--her heart welled with tears of love and hope. What a day her boy just had!

Over there grandma silently wept beside her shivering child. He’ll never know his mommy. What a day he just had—and tomorrow will be just as hard.

Our little one still felt mommy’s kiss on her cheek as she laid her head on her pillow.

Their little ones huddled through the brutal night in the dark doorways of the dangerous city.

Our child asked, “Daddy can I have a drink of water?” He answered with cool, clear water from the tap.

For them the very water needed for life is laden with disease and death.

Yesterday we gave ours an “allowance” to spend on childish treasures.

They begged on the streets for coins to buy food—and then the bullies stole the coins from them.

A quick trip to the medicine chest and a few cents’ worth of salve stopped the cut on our little son’s foot from becoming infected.

Their little one’s cut is already infected; it threatens the limb—even the life.

Our little ones went to school with eager minds and learned wonderful things.

Theirs hadn’t eaten and didn’t have the strength to walk the six kilometers to school.

Soon, if they haven’t already, our children will come to the moment when they ask Jesus into their hearts.

Their precious little ones may never know how.

Do we love only ours and ignore theirs?

No. No. Stop a moment. What’s this about OURS and THEIRS? THEY ARE ALL HIS!

He cares the same for all of them—just the same. Enough to die for them. And He asked us to help them—all of them.

Today and tomorrow we must do everything in our power to bring hurting little ones to Jesus.