I am thankful that I was able to comfort and play games with children in a nearby field all afternoon and distract them for a bit.

I will confess you among the peoples, O LORD; I will sing praise to you among the nations. For Your lovingkindness is greater than the heavens, and Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Psalm 57:9–10

My desktop photo is now this line of little Syrian boys in front of the tents of their refuge camp. And my prayer is Luke 18:16, أمّا يَسُوعَ فَدَعا الأطفالَ إلَيهِ وَقالَ: «دَعُوا الأطفالَ يَأتُونَ إلَيَّ، وَلا تَمنَعُوهُمْ عَنِّي، لِأنَّ لِمِثلِ هَؤُلاءِ مَلَكُوتَ اللهِ, let the little ones come unto Me.

And every month we send twenty dollars to a girl who is loving little children in Nepal, and yesterday her email was full of thanks at the goodness of God in the midst of ruin and chaos and pain.

And every day I am reminded that it is not about me, as I learn to love my kiddos well.

And I am wandering through a school in rainy Denver this week, with a notebook and pen, as I watch some wonderful people love children well, with creativity and passion, with a team of equally inspiring teachers.

It is about His honor and glory and His great lovingkindness. His great lovingkindness that I certainly cannot wrap my small human mind around, but that which is declared day after day, night after night by His mercy and His grace.

Particularly in His image-bearers, who fill my heart with tenderness.

Now they were bringing even infants to him that He might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  But Jesus called them to Him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

That time of darkness and despair will not go on forever

And He went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So His fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought Him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and He healed them. Matthew 4: 23-24

As much as I dwell on the love and grace of God for His beloved children, there is still the cry for rightness in my heart, particularly when I read the newspaper headlines, I long for those who oppress the poor and helpless to be held accountable for their actions as in May They Experience Woe: Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow. Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

Perhaps it is because it is a shared longing.  He is the one Who reached past the natural law of Survival of the Fittest and instilled His value of justice. This is part of the good news of the kingdom that Jesus came to proclaim: good news to the poor and liberty to the captives; sight to the blind, liberty to the oppressed.

And what a comfort to hear testimonies from Lebanon and Jordan and Turkey that His good news is still being preached in Syria, and among the more than two million refugees who have fled their homes and are clinging to life along the borders of because of murder and mayhem and “oppressive decrees.”

But what draws them to Jesus and His life and death and life again is not a message of justice, but of forgiveness.  Not a message of vengeance is Mine sayeth the LORD, but of mercy.  Not a message of hatred, but of love.  

Where do you get this message? His followers are being asked.

This is the good news from the One who heals every affliction among men. And who, when faced with the greatest injustice of all, was able to cry out, “Father, forgive them.” And it seems that we more the injustice we suffer here on this earth, the more we can be like Jesus. drawing close to His heart.

Perhaps that is how He was able to lift His eyes up to His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, and say: Blessed are you who are poor now. Blessed are you who are hungry now. Blessed are you who weep now. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil. You will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.