hope

The gospel frees us from being passive recipients of whatever fate somebody else decides for us.  

It's almost like their fate was chosen for them when they were born into poverty, abuse, and neglect.  It's not a big step to go from sleeping on a straw mattress in a one-room, adobe house with a dirt floor to sleeping under a bridge and sniffing glue to numb the hunger and cold, especially when it means escaping sexual abuse and beatings.   

I feel like I'm always just a few steps away from the thick cloud of hopelessness that surrounds the kids and shrouds from view any real possibility of change.  If it weren't for the gospel that allows us to step outside the restricting circumstances of our lives and live in freedom, these kids would have no hope and no future.  

What do you if you're 20 years old and have lived on the streets since you were 14?  What kind of vocation are you going have without any education or training?