Unknown

If you read in 1
Kings 17 and 18 you will learn about an amazing man named Elijah. In short summary, he was a man who prophisied
words from the Lord; he was a man who believed in the voice of the Lord even
when it sounded crazy; and he had unbelieveable faith that God is who He said
he is and would do anything to show people that. Elijah was also one of the two people on the
mountain of transfiguration with Jesus (Matthew 17:1-13).

I met him when he
was sitting in his crib crying for attention. When I picked him up he was fine. All he wanted was for someone to
notice him. I want to know how old he
is! He can sit up by himself, feed
himself, drink out of a cup without a lid, communicate things that he wants, he
knows that he should smile when his picture is taken, but he can not talk or
walk. No one can tell me his age. They only guess that he is over a year old (I
think I could have told you that myself). I want to know his name! The
place on the paper where his name should be written only says
“Unknown”. How can he not have
a name? He has been living for over a
year without an identity of his own? I
want to know his story! There I finally
got some answers. On January 17th his
mother brought him to the hospital because he was malnurished. One day she asked someone to watch her baby
boy while she went to the restroom. She
never returned. She abandoned her
percious baby. Who knows how long she
thought about this, but in the end she decided that leaving her baby was the
best thing she could do for him. This
little guy has been at the hospital for a little over a month, unaware that he
has no family. 

Well, I would
like to introduce you, Elijah (Eli for short). He may have had to go over a year without having a name, but that is the
case no longer. I knew when I heard his
story that I wanted to name him. After
thinking about it that first afternoon I decided that Elijah was perfect. He even looks like an Elijah to me. The
Swazi’s always give their children names with great meaning. I do not know any Si’Swati names, but I did
choose a name with great meaning. I
believe that this little guy will be an amazing man of God. I believe that he will have faith that our
God can and will do unimaginable things through him. I also believe that he will listen for the
voice of the Lord so that he can change the lives of the people around
him. Eli is going to be a world changer!

I spend a lot of
time thinking about Eli (and wondering how I can get him home with me in 2
months). I wish that I could see him
grow up to be the amazing man of God that I know he will be. I wish I could do something to get him out of
the hospital and into a place where he would be clothed, fed, and loved. I have fallen in love with this little guy.
He has stolen my heart. I cherish every
moment I get to spend with him and I look forward to the days when I get to see
him. My goals for him while I am here
are that he will know his name by the time I leave, and I hope to teach him to
walk, or at least see him take his first steps.