Ever wonder about the small things that bring us together? Not the big stuff like war, and sickness, difficulty, or other things that normally bond people together. A little story to illustrate the point. I just got back from a trip to Mae Ra Moe refugee camp. I went with a team that came from Alaska, great bunch of people. We stayed for 5 days, for me it was great being there, as it was there that I first got to work with the Karen people 3 years ago. Sadly, not much has changed. More people, more dust, more misery. But oddly, and amid so much hardship, I was again touched by the love and hope that the normal everyday people have. I am not talking about the pastors, leaders, and big wigs. I mean the kids that came everyday to play. I mean the guys who offered to wash my t-shirt after it got dropped in the dust. The little people. The two girls who came to a couple of us one night with an old photograph, pointing to one of the people in the picture. It took some looking, but I recognized one of the girls on the team who had been there two years ago and had given the picture. These two little girls still remembered, and were thrilled to find out that their friend had come back to visit. I think they were even more thrilled when we invited them in for hot chocolate and oreos. It was a small thing like giving a picture to a child that made a difference. Not our programs or our gifts. A simple picture of home for us, but an unimaginable world to a refugee kid. Something that those little girls could hold onto. They couldn't communicate well with each other, yet there was an undeniable bond there. I guess some things trancend all boundaries. Like a picture. Or Oreos.
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