Island Boy

From EMA's July 2009 Email newsletter

Three years ago I joined an intercession team to pray over a city where a full-time team would soon be moving to.

During our walks my friend and I visited an island situated right in the middle of the river. Travelling over, we discovered the ferryman’s grandson had cerebral palsy and spent his life lying in bed. On showing our interest the ferry-man turned the ferry around, and despite a huge crowd of people waiting on the banks with gas bottles, water and other goodies for delivering, he ferried us to his house.

There we met the grandson and were able to show him some simple exercises in order to prevent any further muscle wastage. The following year we were deterred from visiting the home due to severe floods that prevented island access.

However this year my colleague and I made it over only to discover that the boy had moved, but a kind "grandmother" took us to his new home. There we invited him to join us for camp. He was so fearful as he kept saying, "I am too much trouble, I cannot do anything".

John collected him from his fourth floor flat, we borrowed a wheelchair for him and brought him to camp! We had the priviledge to witness the biggest change we have ever seen in anyone at camp. He went from sitting fearfully in his chair with his head hung low trying to make himself even smaller, to an upright handsome young man who laughed and whose hand was the first in the air whenever a volunteer for a game was called for.

He swam, he painted, he sang and danced and even went on an outing to town with some team members after everyone else went home. He came to know the God who loves him, where others had told him that he was unlovable, a God who says to him ‘you can’ when so many around him were saying, ‘you cannot’.

It was so amazing to see, and we give God all the praise and glory for making this possible, for a ‘chance meeting’ three years previous to seeing life being given in all it’s abundance.

Please pray for this boy and for his family, who also came to know Him, that they would be encouraged in their new lives and help each other to grow.