Skip to main content

Looking for Jesus in Disguise (part 2)

dominik schroder FIKD9t5 5zQ unsplash 1 scaled 096578e7
  On Christmas we celebrate the magic of the incarnation. In yesterday’s blog I asked “what if Jesus returned to earth, once more in disguise?” The story continues today as reported in Marisa Banas’ blog series on what happened when she felt God asking her to take a Kenyan street urchin nam…
By Seth Barnes

 

On Christmas we celebrate the magic of the incarnation. In yesterday’s blog I asked “what if Jesus returned to earth, once more in disguise?” The story continues today as reported in Marisa Banas’ blog series on what happened when she felt God asking her to take a Kenyan street urchin named Allen as her son. These events are unfolding in real time this Christmas eve in Eldoret, Kenya. The ending is yet to be written.

marisa AllenWalking to the supermarket, I put my arm around Allen and through my interpreter, Meshack, I told him that he was special. I explained to him that he was loved by God and that he could talk to God like I talk to him. I also told him to ask God for to bring his dreams to pass.

Once at the store, I was on the hunt for a cheap but effective anti-bacteria soap. I was going to scrub this kid down from head to toe. Determined to get every germ off of him, I thought Well, if we are going to wash his body we are going to have to wash his clothes too. I looked him over from top to bottom and I knew I was in for some heavy manual labor. His sweatshirt was filled with sharp prickers, his jeans, which were once a light color were now stained black. I didn’t know how we were going to actually do the wash, but I bought some detergent in faith. Walking back I found out that there was a river behind the church.

We walked through a garbage dump, thickets and someone’s garden before we finally arrived. Allen stripped down and I retreated to a different section to scrub his clothes in the river. Meshack helped Allen and then took over the washing responsibilities. (I don’t think Africans like to see white people doing work.) Allen’s outfit had never been washed before.

Allens handAs we walked back to the church, Allen half naked, I kept thinking, “He needs a father.”
 
Back at the church Allen tried to stay warm in the sun as his clothes were hung out to dry and I sat on a bench plucking the hundreds of sharp prickers from his sweatshirt. Meshack made his way over to me to help with the plucking and together we watched Allen fall off into a daze as he took a few strong sniffs of his remedy. Heartbroken, I said to Meshack, “He needs a father.” After a brief silence and to my great surprise he said, “Okay, I will take him home to my mother. She will take care of him.”

 

A few discussions later Meshack consulted Allen and asked him if he wanted to go home with him. His answer: “Praise God.”
We took him to my home first. I put him in a bunk bed that none of us will sleep on because it hurts our backs.

However, he was overjoyed at the opportunity.

I slept beneath him on the floor, hot tears running from my eyes as the evidence of God’s love was snoring above me.
In tomorrow’s installment, Marisa realizes that she has inadvertently put Allen’s life in jeopardy…but you, as a part of our blog community, have a chance to make this a Christmas story worth remembering….

Comments (6)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

about team