“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs…” (Isaiah 58:9-11).

One of the kids asked me to pick her up in a different spot yesterday so she could have more time with her friends. An easy request. I pulled into the parking lot and out of the corner of my eye, saw something red on the curb down the way. This object began to move and I realized it was a child in a red sweatshirt! I watched for a minute to see if they would get up, but nothing happened. Nobody seemed to see what was going on. I drove down there and went to the child. He was walking home and had tripped in this hole and could not get up. He was on the phone with a friend. We talked for a minute as I helped him up. Turns out he is in the same grade as one of our kids. He was hurt and did not think he could walk the rest of the way home. He said I could just take him.

I told him we needed to call his mom, but we did not get ahold of her. His friend did not answer again either. Finally, his friends mom came to pick him up and I was thankful, but of course my mind went a million directions. If he so easily wanted to get in the car with me, a stranger, how easy could harm have come to him if it had been someone else? He was left unprotected. How many more children suffer the same?

A prayer quickly formed of protection for this sweet boy and the many others who go unseen by us, but are an easy target for evil. Lord, give us eyes to see. Take our attention away from what is distracting us and give us clear vision to see the oppressed, hungry and unprotected. May the evil one not gain another child today. Shine Your light in the dark and guide us to the unseen today. And when we see someone in need, may we not ask them to qualify their need or think over if they are worthy of our love, but let us serve them like Jesus. Love in action. In His mighty Name we pray, Amen.