This is Thaban. He is five years old. He loves to be held and to play. His eyes sparkle when he smiles, and so many of us on our team have fallen completely in love with him. Thaban can’t speak. We are told that he does not swallow properly. Because of this, Thaban constantly has a tremendous amount of drool dripping out of his mouth and caked all over his clothes. Thaban teaches me how incredibly selfish I can be. It’s often so hard to pick Thaban up when you are hot, soaked with sweat, and the last thing you want to do is have drool all over your clothes, hands, and hair. I have to say that God is definitely using this sweet little boy to show me what it means to die to myself daily. He constantly reminds me of what I must look like in comparison to God. If I could only see how I really look in relation to God, I would see so many similarities that I share with Thaban. How many times do I run to God with open arms, filthy and smelly in my humanity, and every single time God bends down, lifts me up, craddles me in his arms, and cleans me off? No matter how disgusting I am, God is never afraid that my uncleanliness will diminish his righteousness. I am so thankful for Thaban, and it is my prayer that i will no longer be too selfish to bend down, lift him up, craddle him in my arms, and clean him off.
