There is hope for every man . . . .

. . . the start of the chorus of a song by the Christian group, Casting Crowns ("Every Man"). As I was listening to it in the car on the way home from the dump yesterday tears were just streaming down my face. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to walk away from the Wednesday afternoon activities at the dump an unchanged person. . . . God is just doing way too much out there!

I'm thinking mostly of Ivan Chango . . . a man who was once broken and bound by the chains of alcoholism, a man who was often in a drunken stupor at the dump, a man who ran the "mafia" of dump miners (those who dig through the garbage to find anything valuable), a man who beat his kids and wife.

But as the song says:

There is hope for every man
a solid place where we can stand
in this dry and weary land
There is hope for every man
There is Love that never dies
There is peace in troubled times
Will we help them understand?
Jesus is hope for every man

I couldn't help but think about the only thing that made a difference in Ivan's life - JESUS! Let me explain. . .

Two weeks ago I was standing outside the door to the Day Care Center watching the kids come in for the Kids Club and a man came up to me - I barely recognized him as he was all clean shaven, dressed nicely and had a smile on his face! Could this be the Ivan Chango that I used to know - the one who was always unbathed, drunk and unable to say a decent word?

But then I remembered that his nephew, Mateo, used to come to the Kids Club, along with his sister, Margarita. So I asked him about Mateo and Margarita. And that got a great conversation started - one that changed my life and gave me hope once again that yes, these needy people at the dump can change - only through the power of God's Word.

Ivan said - "Do you want to see the great gift that Pastor Jose (our director of dump ministries) gave me?" Of course, I said yes. Very proudly, he pulled off his backpack, unzipped it and pulled out the only thing inside - a large print, black Bible! He quickly started showing me the various passages that he had been reading - all of Exodus 20 was highlighted and marked up. He had several passages in John highlighted as well. He said that he just "can't get enough of God's Word!" That knowing Jesus has changed his life completely! And that Fridays are his favorite day now as he and 24 other members of his family have a Bible study out at the dump with Pastor Jose and his wife Teresa and that God's Word is changing his family too!


With tears in my eyes, I asked him if I could take a picture of him with his Bible. He said sure, but that he wanted his wife María to be there too - so he called her over. Here are the photos taken that day - 2 weeks ago when all doubt was erased from my mind that God and His Word can make a difference on someone's life . . . if you're doubting today - maybe you don't have hope for tomorrow, maybe things just aren't going your way, maybe sin has a hold on you. Remember that there is a man named Ivan at the garbage dump in Quito who was in the depths of filth and sin, more than any of us could imagine, but God pulled him out through many years of faithful ministry to these people and showed him that yes, "There is hope for every man. . . ."


Pray for the Bible study going on each Friday with Ivan and his family. Jose has explained to me that many of them don't know how to read so we're trying to find CD's with scripture on them so that they can hear the Word. Another neat connection with this is that Vicki, a fellow adult sponsor for the Kids Club has a special ministry where she teaches church leaders like Pastor Jose to teach the Bible to people who can't read - a special method that works well. So we're trying to connect Vicki and Jose and some others to work on this. And Vicki has Bible stories on CD as well that she's going to help us with! What a blessing that God already had Vicki in place as one of our adult sponsors so that she could be here to help with this project. We are truly blessed.