Sleep

"When I lie down I will not be afraid, When I lie down my sleep will be sweet.” Proverbs 3:24

My six year old has nightmares. He wakes up in the night needing to know that he is safe. Every night at bedtime he asks if he wakes up, ”Can I come crawl into bed with you?” Every night we tell him the same thing, “Who is with you when you wake up?” His head droops a little because he knows the answer, “Jesus.” He knows the answer, but he longs for the warmth of snuggling in on his earthly Daddy’s side of the bed. As his parents we understand that as much as we love him, we can not remove the oppression of the darkness.

When the lights are out, and he is alone with his breath, there is only one person who can keep him safe. That is why we work on memorizing passages like: Psalm 121

“I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord watches over you-- the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

As we recite the words from this passage I am reminded of the words of children’s song that says, “God watches over you, He never sleeps, no He never gets sleepy…..” I always imagine the Lord sitting on the edge of my bed stroking my hair through the night looking tenderly upon my face. There is a legion of angels standing shoulder to shoulder surrounding my bed, indeed filling the whole room with their glory. Swords drawn, alert ready to fight whatever might come along. This is the image I try to convey to my son. Jesus is with you all night long. He is that loving Daddy who simply wants to watch you sleep. He will take care of all the bumps in the night.

However, what if your nightmares lasted from night into day? What if you had lost your earthly father to the hollow pop of a gun? What if at 11 you feel as if you need to be the man of the house? What if you were never told that Jesus watches over you always, even as you sleep?

My son is loved through his nightmares. Yet, there are forgotten children who are not. They run the streets in third world nations, with bare feet and empty bellies. They run the same in our own back yard. They do not feel as if they lie down in sweet slumber. Each night they lie down in fear and trepidation.
Wrap your arms around them for a moment, and their tremors cease. Invite them into your home and they sleep.

There is an interesting phenomena that happens whenever we invite a child from the inner city to spend an afternoon or evening with us. First they point out how quiet our house is. There is not a lot of yelling, or extra noise. Then they take a nap.

Honestly, it used to bother me. I would plan out these fun activities, and they would come in and go to sleep. Yet, one day it hit me. “When I lie down I will not be afraid. When I lie down my sleep will be sweet.” In our house they feel safe. The weapons for fighting the streets, or lives full of pain can be put aside. Some could argue that we simply have a comfortable couch. No, their lids become heavy even in the midst of my own children playing around them.

Why, for a brief moment someone shows them what it feel like to lay your burdens aside and allow their Savior to gently bring peace in the form of rest. They can fall into their heavenly father’s lap. As with my six year old we can show them that Jesus is really with them always. For a moment, the anger of the streets is pushed aside, and we can show them how Christ can take these nightmares away.

Recently, Samuel came to spend an evening with us. It was family pizza and movie night. Samuel slept through the movie. My five year old discovered this and wanted him to enjoy the thrill of laughter with the rest of us. My husband and I just smiled and looked at each other. Together we told her, “It’s alright. Let him sleep.”

Samuel

The crime in the area is horrific. In a 3 block radius the police have been called close to 700 times this year alone. Out of the 30 children involved in our recreational enrichment program in that area 4 of them have lost their fathers in the past year to gang related shootings. Only 5 more children even have any contact with their fathers at all. Every child knows someone who has been shot or shot at… recently. When an unspeakable crime made the news of late, one mother confided in me, “This is not the first time this has happened, this is the first time it made the news.”

So we could hang our heads and forget what hope looks like. The youngest of the children are tired of trying. Everyday feels like dark clouds have moved in so thickly that they can not see. Storms rage on to ravage their souls of any light. Burdens feel piled so high that their knees are scraped raw from the weight of being pushed to the ground.

This is the very place where the Lord meets them. He cuts the chains of iniquity reminding them that his burden in easy, his burden is light. He came as he proclaimed in Luke, because “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed.” Freedom, He came to bring freedom. Freedom from a wretched life in chains, blind, broken hearted and oppressed. He came to set us free,

Recently, that is exactly what he did for an 11 year old boy named Samuel.

When you ask anyone who spends any time with Samuel they will tell you what a special kid he is. All he longs for is freedom. In his eyes you can see a heart that wants more. His heart was broken when his older brother made the choice to get involved in a crime that would turn your stomach. “If I only had been a better brother, he would have been able to do it right,” he told a friend of mine. After years of trying to be the best that he can, I was given the opportunity to share the gospel of peace with Samuel. I laid out Christ’s plan for freedom, when Samuel asked me if it was true that Jesus came back from the dead. It is so wonderful when the Lord puts those neon signs out for you to lead someone back into reconciliation with him. Samuel took it all in as I explained that through not only Christ’s death, but because of his resurrection we are invited not only to heaven. More importantly we are invited into an eternal relationship with our savior, the God of all the universe At first Samuel thought he just wasn’t good enough for Christ, he wasn’t ready. I explained that all he had to do was turn towards home. Like the Prodigal’s father God has been waiting for him. He will come running out to meet him. The Samuel prayed a prayer to take the Lord’s breath away. So humbly, he asked the Lord to take over his life. He asked for Christ to forgive his sins and thanked him for bringing order into his chaotic world. By the end I was choking the tears back. Once again the Lord had thrown his arms around one of his children and whispered, “Never will I leave you, never, ever will I go anywhere….. I am with you forever.”

As we sat on the steps side by side I knew that something had changed. Samuel declared, “I feel like God is in me now.”

Now there is a new letter for his brother, “Jesus loves you no matter what you’ve done and so do I.”