Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man. Psalm 66:5  

By Kyle Ewing  

Editor's note:  Kyle came to work in Nairobi, Kenya's Kibera slum last year as a person who did not like children, but God had at least one amazing surprise in store for him.  As Kyle shares here, his name was Niko.  

Nikolas was a 12-year-old boy in my afternoon street children’s program. The first day I met him, he was really quiet and reserved. Now usually the only kids I would talk to were the ones that drew attention to themselves, but Niko never did that.  

I sat down with Niko one day to get to know him. He started by saying that he prayed that God would take care of me every night. My eyes misted over. This 12 year old who has nothing was praying that God would take care of me.  

I had asked him if he was a Christian, and he had answered “no,” adding that he didn’t even know who Jesus was.  

Intrigued I asked, “So who do you pray to at night?”   “I don’t know. But I know that there is a God out there that cares so much about me, that he listens to me every time I pray” was his response.   I was blown away, and asked who he thought Jesus was. Again he said, “I don’t know, but I know I need Him to be a ‘good boy.’”   “Do you do things now that you think God wouldn’t like?”   “No, I just think that no matter what I do, if I don’t have God it can never be truly good.”  

Our God is an awesome God and I am happier than I ever have been to report that on Thanksgiving Day Niko invited Jesus to be his personal Savior, and he gave his life over to the Living God.  

My God knows me better than I can imagine, and he knew that Niko would be the best thing for me. I can picture Him laughing at me when I was saying that I didn’t want to work with kids. If I had been listening I’m sure He was saying, “Just you wait, I’ve got something amazing in store for you.” By sharing that love with Niko, I think that I have a little better understanding of how much God loves me.   My God has started a good work in Niko, and He has promised to see it through to the end.  

Kyle Ewing served with MTW as an intern in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, 2004-05. This article originally appeared in the summer 2005 StreetChild newsletter.