Hosana

Heaven

I talked about a boy named Richard in our home and wanted to show you a few photos of him so that you could get to know him better, (and in his case, three pictures really are worth a thousand words!)

I also wanted to share an email from a man who I admire so much for his humility, love and understanding of God and His word, and his commitment to care for the vulnerable on his response as to whether or not Yahaya went to heaven. He is a theologian and professor at Phoenix Seminary and wrote the below email, oh yeah he also so happens to be my dad =-) It was something I had felt deeply in my heart based off of my own knowledge of God and who He is, but his email really put a lot of things into light. I hope it will encourage you as it did me!

Abby,

We are so sad that this happened. I would love to have you call and talk about this if you would like to.

You and David do such difficult work. God is grieved over human suffering, even when we partially or entirely bring it on ourselves. Isaiah 63:9, in a context of Israelites suffering due to their sin, God says “in all their affliction he was afflicted.” God is so grieved when people hurt, regardless of the cause. (Matt 9:36, Jesus’ compassion for the multitudes is similar.)

You love so fiercely and that is such a beautiful trait. I want to give you some biblical passages that I think will encourage you regarding whether or not Yahaya is in heaven. I am totally convinced that all babies, young children, as well as older children or adults who have diminished mental capacity (I’ll respectfully called them “the diminished”) will go to heaven. I didn’t know Yahaya, but it is pretty clear to me, even from seeing his picture, that he did not have normal mental/emotional capacities. He had some dysmorphic facial features, suggesting some abnormalities and deficiencies from birth (genetic abnormalities, fetal alcohol syndrome, or other conditions which I’m no expert on). There are so many factors which severely impact a child’s mental development and cognitive functioning—the mother’s nutrition during pregnancy, the mother’s drug or alcohol use during pregnancy, nutrition during infancy, severe neglect during the first three years of life, etc. Then you throw in experiences of trauma with no ongoing safety or support as well as the mental damage caused by drug usage, and you have a child who simply does not have the mental and emotional capacity to fully understand or respond to the gospel or to offers of other kinds of love and care. The fact that Yahya ran away so quickly and simply refused offers of care, even toward the end when he had gangrene in his foot and TB is indicative that he did not have proper mental/emotional functioning. God understands this and does not condemn someone for what they cannot receive. More than that, I believe God considers that his children who will be with him for all eternity.

There are many different biblical passages and theological principles to affirm that children and the diminished go to heaven.

1.       The love of God and the work of Christ lead us to logically infer that infants and others with reduced mental capacity go to heaven.

Christ died for the whole world—every single person ever created, and wants them to have a relationship with him. This is the clear message of John 3:16 and many other passages. 2 Pet 3:9 says that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. It is only logical that since God loves all humans, Christ died for them, and God wants them to come to him, that based on the work of Christ, he saves those who by means of their diminished mental and or emotional capacity cannot trust in Christ.

2.       The diminished cannot fully understand their sin and their need for the gospel or turn to Christ. Since the basis for people not going to heaven is that they reject Christ and hate the light because they love their sin (John 3:16-20; cp. Rom 1:18-32). The diminished haven’t rejected Christ because they don’t have the full capacity to do this. Thus, they are not eternally judged. Furthermore, children in the Old Testament who were killed in pagan rituals to the Canaanite gods are declared “innocent” by God (Jer 19:4). God does not condemn the innocent and hates it when people do this (Prov 17:15).

3.       Jesus uniform attitude toward children is that they are innocent, blessed by God, and are spiritual examples for others to follow (Matt 18:2-4—children are called the greatest in the kingdom of heaven). Others—adults, are told they must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:3), implying that children are already in God’s kingdom. These things would not be true if some children were not going to heaven. For instance, Jesus blessed the children as a group, seemingly without exception (Matt 18:3-5). Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus pronounce a blessing on anyone who stands in judgment, who is not a child of God.

4.       King David’s response to his infant son who died (2 Sam 12:17-23) was to get up, quit fasting, and to find comfort in the fact that even though the child couldn’t come to him in this life, David would go to him (v. 23). This only makes sense if David was confident that that child was with God where he, David, would be someday also. Further strengthening this interpretation is David’s dramatically different response to the death of his rebellious adult son Absalom who revolted, raped David’s concubines, and launched a civil war (2 Sam 16). When Absalom died, David was so overcome with inconsolable grief that his general had to confront him (2 Sam 18:33-19:1-8). This is because David knew that this adult son’s rebellion and sin evidenced that fact that he was not a child of God and David would not see him in the afterlife.

5.       One of the most powerful evidences of the fact that God treats children categorically different from adults and that they are not judged for sin the way adults are is found in Deut 1:39. In the context of God’s judgment on the Israelites whose sin caused God to deny them entry to the promised land, forcing them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, God says he will allow their children to enter the promised land because they “have no knowledge of good or evil.” God does not hold children responsible for things they don’t have the mental capacity to understand and thus gives them blessing and not judgment. This same principle applies to the diminished—they do not truly have knowledge of good or evil and thus aren’t under judgment but will inherit heaven.

6.       God says that children whose parents fatally sacrificed them to the pagan gods are “my children” (Ezek 16:20-21). Clearly God is saying that physical children are his spiritual children. This same principle surely applies to the diminished who are not by age little children but developmentally are children.

Abby, I would finally note the applicability of Matthew 25 to your care for Yahaya. He was “one of the least of these” and you loved him, offered him food, drink, clothes, and shelter. You did exactly what Jesus describes in this passage. It is so sad that due to his traumatic life experiences and diminished capacity he couldn’t receive this, but that doesn’t change the fact that as much as you did this to Yahaya you did it to Jesus. And Jesus takes great delight when we care for the vulnerable and marginalized that he cares for. Your love for Yahaya and your grief over him delights the one who gave his life for Yahaya. And I am confident that you will see him again some day and he will thank you for offering him love and care in Jesus’ name, even though he couldn’t receive it at the time. And Jesus will thank you for caring for His precious child. This doesn’t take away the loss and grief now, but it puts it in an eternal context. We don’t live for this life; we count on God’s future grace and live and serve in light of eternity.

I pray that God will encourage you and give you a sense of his delight in you for your work.

I would love to talk whenever you have a chance to call.

Love,

Dad

"The Journey is Not Over for Us!"

There is a boy named Yahaya that many of you know of because he is a boy that I love so much. He is a boy I have asked many of you to pray for as well as I know that you have. I always knew that Yahaya was supposed to be in our home. He did come into our home a couple of times but never for more than two days before he would run back to the streets to do drugs to which he was so strongly addicted. He had been through so much and just couldn't trust anything good in his life. He was also so addicted to drugs, going off of them for any period of time felt impossible for him. He was so hopeless and could simply not believe that anyone could love him or be good or trusted.

Two days ago Yahaya passed away. He had eaten something and began foaming at the mouth, convulsing and vomiting. Shortly after that he died. Last year, three street children were poised and killed by women living in the slum community (who didn't like street children) and two women were convicted and put into prison. It seems that Yahaya was another victim of poisoning.

There was so something so extremely beautiful about Yahaya. Behind his scars and drugs and toughness was the heart of an extremely wounded yet kind soul. He acted tough but I know that God had created him as a soft and compassionate kid. I loved Yahaya so much and had a perpetually broken heart that he couldn't stay in our home. The doors were never closed to our home and he knew it.

I loved Yahaya so very much and it feels hard knowing now that the hope that he would one day chose a life where he would be safe and loved and happy is no longer possible. I keep remembering the hours that he spent in our home wrestling with David and rollerblading all over the place as he grinned from ear to ear. I think the hardest part is not knowing where he is right now. Yahaya, as far as I had known him turned away from everything good and loving in his life- people, places, medicine and even God.

I am a very steady person but sometimes I feel like my life is full of impossibly high highs and low lows. After hearing that Yahaya had passed away I was surrounded by my boys, all children that God had allowed me to rescue from the street in devotions as they sang with full joyful hearts to God. They are the most beautiful treasures and I wish that the whole world could meet them, because they are the most beautiful example of a life saved and transformed by God. I kept looking at Richard, our newest and smallest boy who reminds me a little of Yahaya in his cuteness yet zeal for life as he sang with his shirt tucked into his high waisted shorts with his shoelaces tied around his calves as he sang and danced his little heart out. It hurt to be reminded of Yahaya but it helped heal my heart too to see Richard and think of where he might have been. 

The journey is not over for us. There are so many children suffering on the streets that don't have a home, and someone to love them, and most importantly don't know of a God who loves them more than they can ever imagine. My heart is still breaking and grieving over Yahaya and the injustices and horror that street children go through. It isn't right and it isn't fair and he lived a life that no one should ever have to go through.  But that is exactly why we stand in the gap to be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. 

This was a poem that I wanted to share that I had written last year, while praying for Yahaya actually, that still feels so painfully true for many children that we work with.

Come come come

We say, He says

Stay stay stay

We plead

But so often you slip into the night

Out of our hands that try to hold on so tightly

And forever we wonder

You thought you were invisible

Because you left and no one noticed

You hid and no one sought you out

But I see you now

and you were never lost from His sight

I think sometimes it can be hard for you

To look through to the other side

Of us who sleep in beds at night

And don't have to fight to survive

Who get food from a fridge rather than a trash can

And to believe that we could possibly understand you

That we could possibly be someone you could trust

But we do

We love you

Please jump

Off of the cliff

That you have so many times before

And trust that this time it will be different

And we will wait here

Watching you

Our faces turned up

     and our arms raised

To catch you as you fall

We will be here

For however long you need it

Thank you all for praying for our children here in Uganda. Thank you as well everyone that has given to our ministry in the last couple of months, it has encouraged our hearts so much and been such a blessing, we are doing this work together, thank you all we love you.

God bless

Abby and David Kakeeto

The "Pig Project"

A few months ago, God led us to adding a new outreach to our ministry. As we were praising God for the great work He was doing in our boys homes, we couldn’t dismiss the fact that there were many other children in our community that were in the need of our assistance. While these children had a loving family, that family was unable to provide for them education, and many other necessities… so we began community outreach! Thank you for the many people who have joined the effort and sponsored these children or donated towards this program as well as dedicating your time to pray for them. A handful of these children now attend our homeschool program, and they are improving and excelling at great speeds.

In efforts to help not only the children, but also their families, we created “the pig project.” This week we were able to deliver a mattress and three pigs to each of the seven community-sponsored families.  Yes, the little piglets are adorable, but not offered for pets (just incase you were wondering). Rearing these pigs provides means for these families to become be self-sufficient- an important value here at API.  We pray this project will be successful in improving the lives in our community and we also hope to start a chicken project in the near future. As we provide for our community, we strive to not only provide for their physical and educational needs, but we also desire to teach these families how to provide for themselves and cultivate sustainability.

What a blessing it was to deliver these piglets to so many families we have grown to love! Their expressions quickly became filled with joy and thanksgiving. Yes, A Perfect Injustice provided for a few of their needs – but ultimately it was God using your support to provide through us. We pray that these families not only feel loved by us, but also by our great God who loves them and cares about their every need. We pray that not only are the relationships of these families strengthened, but that each member of these families would form a relationship with Christ!

Deutoronomy 15:11 says, “For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’”

We are thankful for the support that allows us to provide for the needy in our land and we pray that you also seek ways to provide for the needy in your land.