A couple of months ago I saw an ad on Facebook for a free book about children in Asia titled “No Longer A Slumdog”, written by K.P. Yohannan. I thought it would be an interesting read because I know people who serve the LORD there, plus it has a forward written by Francis Chan, so I ordered it. When it finally came in the mail, I set it aside on the shelf next to where I sit for our Spirit Fires, and truth be told, I forgot about it. Till one day I saw it sitting there and thought to give the first chapter a read. Boy, I’m glad I did. As I read the stories about the hundreds of millions of children that suffer in this world, and about the work of the Spirit and the light God brings to such places, I quickly thought about my own children and how invaluable it would be for them to learn and hear about it. Most of the children mentioned in the book are around their age of 7 so it seemed even more appropriate for my kids to hear about them during this stage of their lives.
In our beginning prayer time, we talk about our Treasure Rooms which are filled with all kinds of riches from God. When reading Yohannan’s book, I spoke to them of a rare jewel of Wisdom called Perspective, and each page of his book was loaded with it. Perspective provides for us an opportunity to value others and ourselves, and it is something every child and adult in every culture needs. With it we take a step out of our own shoes with our needs and wants and step into another’s and hear of even greater needs and in that trade off, a new need awakens, a need to help and do something about it. A need to love.
Yohannen’s book provides a personal view into the dark streets of cities like Bombay and what daily life is like there for the Dalit children and communities. Children who don’t know the love of God, let alone the many who don’t even know the love of a parent. The harshness of dealing with a pimp who knows a maimed child makes more money begging than a healthy one is contrasted by the blinding glory of God’s redemptive love as the life of a violent child changes to that of a loving child becoming a blessing to his community. Yohannan shares many stories of hope and joy amidst the dark, each one of these stories is a seed for my children; a seed I know that will grow in the garden of their hearts, souls, and minds.
Last night we had our recap discussion time. Honestly, my kids couldn’t follow many of the questions I asked like: “So what did we learn about the Jewel of Perspective?” But when I asked them about specifics in the book, they couldn’t stop talking about the children we read about.