My baby - I'm sure that she will love being called that - is Nicole. Since she is a junior at Harding and not quite a baby any more - but, she is still my baby. Anyway, I'll be 50 next Wednesday and my mom still calls me her baby.
Well, Nicole is in Honduras for the summer doing what she loves and that means most of the time she is working out at Casa de Esperanza - a children's home and on her days off, she is working with one of the TORCH teams or occupying her time with all the kids that are around Santa Ana. I love Nicole - she is my daughter but, she is my buddy too. We are way too much alike - probably to her detriment. I love Nicole's heart and her passion for others.
A couple of weeks ago I was in Honduras for a weekend and Nicole & I had a chance to work together for about 4 straight days. It was great. On the Sunday night, I was taking some people back to the mission house and needed to stop at the Texaco for a cell phone card & I sent Nicole into the store to buy it. She was taking forever to accomplish this simple task and I of course was making comments about just how slow she was in doing this simple thing.
When she cam out of the store, she had an extra sack and she walked over to two little boys that were hanging outside of the store - opened the sack and handed each of them a hamburger. The boys were all smiles and I was a proud pappa.
Nicole taught me that I need to open my eyes to the needs that are right here in front of me. She taught me that if there is a need, then it is my responsibility as a child of God to do everything possible to resolve that need. Just like James - the brother of Jesus said, you have NO FAITH if you see a hungry person and tell them to go and be fed. Nicole taught me that it's okay to take a little extra time to do the work that God planned for us to do - even before the beginning of time.
