Ackson

(like Jackson, but without the J)

Ackson was a boy about 12 years old who we met in the compound at Livingstone. He was the reason I didn’t want to leave Zambia.

From the very beginning when I first met Ackson, he showed so much potential. He was a born leader. One time we asked the children if they would show us one of their games. They agreed, and at that very moment, Ackson started organizing the children to play a game. Any time we weren’t sure if the children understood something, we asked Ackson. He was our “go-to” guy.

As I told the Bible lesson each day, he was very attentive. You could see by his facial expressions that he really understood what we were talking about. When reciting a memory verse, he could say it all.
One day he was a little late for a Bible lesson. He was helping wash dishes at his house. From across the road, he was listening to what we were doing, and as soon as he could get away, he was sitting with all of the other children (right up front), attentive to the lesson.

He has so much potential.

After we had left the compound on the last day, all I could think about were these dear children with so much potential. I wanted to do so much more for them. I wondered if we had explained the gospel well enough. I wondered what would happen after we left. I wondered what would happen to children like Ackson – kids with so much potential.

But I had to remember that God can take much better care of them than I ever could. And what we had done in sharing the gospel – I knew it wasn’t in vain.

So I pray that I will see Ackson again. I pray that I will see these kids again. Maybe not in this lifetime, but when we are all gathered at the throne of God.

Please pray for Ackson and the children in Livingstone. Pray that the gospel seeds planted in their hearts will grow and bear fruit, and that they will reach their full potential - becoming like Christ.