I was just sitting down to enjoy my kinda mid-day quite time that I like to arrange in my daily schedule whenever possible, and that is most days. I find it essential for me here serving in Nicaragua to be able to break my days down into two parts so that I can better prepare and process all that has happened during the early hours, and to think and pray about all I will be encountering in the afternoon.
Right now we are closing in on the end of the school year, so I find myself having many conversations with kids about finishing the year strongly with much studying and single-minded focus on fulfilling scholastic responsibilities. This year, the 2nd year of The Isaiah Ministry’s existence, has been a rough one for us concerning our kids. This year we’ve had 9 kids leave the Project for various reasons; some for religious differences, some because their families just picked up and skipped town with no notice, and others just because they no longer desired to obey rules and adhere to our expectations. It has been difficult for me to see these kids leave us, but perhaps even more difficult for Franklin and Patricia, the two daily task masters of the Project; difficult because all of the kids that were or are enrolled with us live in the same community in which we are located. Therefore, just because a child no longer comes to our Project on a daily basis doesn’t mean we don’t see them often. Three of the teenagers that left the Project this year quit going to school very shortly after leaving us as well; we continued to see these kids just about everyday in the streets, a direct result of their decision to not receive and take advantage of the help offered to them with an open hand.
So . . . thinking about all this can really be depressing if you allow it to weigh on you and cause you to replay scenarios time after time in your mind about what you could have done differently and if you had done something differently would things have turned out any better. The point is, in our case at least, I know that we did all we could here at the Project to encourage those kids that left, to plead with them to make good decisions and not abuse the blessings they were being afforded by our loving donors and supporters. I have always said that the main thing that we require from our kids and families involved is that they have to want to be a part of what we are doing here. There is only so much you can do for someone; there comes a point when it depends on them. How much do they want what you want? How much do they respect what you are trying to accomplish? How much do they respect you? Well . . . in my opinion once they child and/or his parents can’t answer those questions positively you are in trouble and it won’t be long before you’ve lost that child.
That’s what has happened with these 9 in one way or the other. It isn’t what we wanted, but it wasn’t in God’s plan for them to stay with us. That’s about as simple as I can put. Like I said, a bit depressing eh? That’s why we have to persevere through those times where it seems like we’re wasting our breath and beating our own head up against a wall trying to be heard and really understood. Because even during those times when it seems like everything is coming against what you’re trying to do, like you’re a minnow trying to swim against the rushing current of a strong river, if we look hard enough there are beautiful things taking place in the lives of those around us. In my case here are a few that come to mind that I might have overlooked a bit that stand out:
1. One of our two high school graduates, Alex, being on the honor roll every report-card; not only that but will graduate as valedictorian of his class.
2. The maturing and dedication I’ve seen in Patricia and Franklin in the lives of these kids and to the purposes of The Isaiah Project; growing and reaching deeper each day.
3. Getting Jahaira(8) and Maria(6), two somewhat newly sponsored sisters who were not previously in school but in the streets always filthy and without care, in school and seeing them bit by bit begin to enjoy going to class and really take hold of the opportunity given them.
4. Watching Eva(12), probably the closest one to my heart here out of all the kids, go through a terrible few months where I really thought she might get lost back in the streets or fail out of school, begin to smile again and change her behavior. Actually, as I was just writing the previous sentence she called me and probably told me she loved me like 5 times, haha. God is so good 
5. God providing a safe and Godly home for three girls that have weighed upon my heart this year as I have seen the state of their home deteriorate from horrible to downright dangerous.
I mention these things because these have all come to fruition recently, but I still had to pass through a season of waiting and laboring without seeing much fruit in the physical. Obviously that doesn’t mean that nothing was going on in the heavenly realms, its just so easy to get brought down by our circumstances around us that we forget that God is not bound by earthly circumstances. Sometimes affliction and suffering have to transpire in our lives and the lives of those we love for true faith and dedication to hold fast to that faith to be formed and grasped.
Anyway, I didn’t really put much thought into this blog entry before writing it, I just felt the desire to communicate with all of you what I felt God placing on my heart in this moment. Remember, there is always hope, even when it can not be easily seen; actually, especially when it can not be easily seen.
“For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” Romans 8:24-25
Hope in Christ my friends!
Michael
