Redemption at its Finest

 
re·demp·tion  noun
/riˈdempSHən/
1.The action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil:
"God's plans for the redemption of his world".
 
 
               “Back in 2001 this is where I would shoplift and pickpocket.” The words are strange coming from his mouth, because knowing him the way I do I can’t imagine him doing those things. He sold his girlfriend to another man here at this mall. He was high on rugby. He does not even remember the conversation really, just that he sold her to another man.  He tells me girls get sold at this mall all the time. In 2001 it was for 1,500 pesos an hour ($30 USD). The usual customer being a middle aged American man. We keep walking through the mall and the conversation continues. He explains it is all because they have to or their family will starve. Some of them have not finished high school which means a good job is not possible to have. Prostitution pays well and puts food on the table. After they have been doing it for a while it does not matter anymore. They lose feelings. It is strictly business. The cold hard facts leak from his mouth and hurt my heart.  
                We walk out of the mall and spill onto the streets of Manila so he can show us where he grew up. Through a park across the street from the zoo he points out two big trees. That’s his house. His brothers still live there and he is insistent we do not go any closer. It is such a juxtaposition that he lived across from the zoo. The zoo is a place where so many kids go with their families on the weekends, just to be kids. He grew up right next to the zoo doing whatever he needed to just to survive. He shared that a Canadian man used to provide groceries and rice for his family. Groceries and rice to keep them from starving… in exchange for pictures. The man was a pedophile. The boy was only 10. I shudder. I feel sick to my stomach even writing that much.
The story could end there, BUT it doesn’t. God had a plan. A redemptive plan. It took years and there are still some wounds that are healing but this boy is now a man. He is a man of God. He knows God and the love God has for him. God has redeemed him. The bad things he has done but also the bad things that happened to him as a result of a fallen world. He is the last person you would expect to have a heart wrenching story like this. Despite living in and going through hell for so long you would never know. Don’t be fooled. It is not because “Times heals all wounds” it is because God does.
 
This isn’t the only story. There are so many. Not just of the boys I call my brothers at Children’s Garden either, but of the people I have come to call my friends and family in Christ.
 
               I have heard so many awful things. Though these things can break my heart, I also have seen the other side. The aftermath of the knowledge of Christ which brings transformation and new life. The transformation is so real and unbelievable because that’s HOW GOD IS! He is real and completely unbelievable. He is in the business of transforming lives. Seeing the people on the other side of the redemptive love that Christ offers, saved from brokenness and hurt, that makes everything almost make sense. It makes hearing these stories and having my heart broken a thousand times over in a weird way worth it. It makes me want to keep doing this over and over and over again. I never wish for bad things to happen to anyone, but I do wish that everyone would come to know the redemptive love of Christ in some way during their lifetime.