Making All Things New

It’s spring. And once again, God is making all things new. But he is not alone in His handiwork.

Nearly two years ago, my wife, Cindy, met Randall and Brenda Bradley at Alleluia in Waco, TX. Cindy and Brenda hit it off, and their “getting to know you” talk turned to “what do you do?” Cindy, who is now retired, told Brenda, “I sew dresses for girls in Africa.” And in that one sentence, a mission project was launched.

You see, Randall and Brenda have a heart for Kenya. They travel there on mission trips frequently. Brenda wondered if Cindy could possibly provide some dresses for the girls in an orphanage/school the Bradleys help to support. “We would need about 130 dresses,” Brenda said. “We leave in May, 2019.”

Cindy said that wouldn’t be a problem, and she put the word out to her circle of sewing friends.

In the last few weeks, as the deadline approached, boxes of handmade dresses of all sizes began arriving at our doorstep. Dresses came from eighteen different women from all across the United States. Many of the women have never met one another, but they share a love for Christ and a passion for what a simple dress can mean to a child who has nothing to call her own.

You see, in parts of Africa, a dress can literally save a child’s life. In countries where human trafficking has become a scourge, a simple new dress sends a signal to the wicked who would abduct a neglected child, that the wearer of the dress is cared for. She is loved enough to be provided with something clean to wear. If taken, she would be missed, and people might go looking for her.

Better to just leave her alone.

And so, a few days ago, I helped a young college girl load over 300 dresses into her car, enough to give every girl at the orphanage two dresses, with some to spare. The dresses will be delivered by a group of Baylor students, under the leadership of Randall Bradley. The students will complete the project begun two years ago with a simple question, “What do you do?”

And lives will be changed.

Young girls who have never owned anything will have something to wear – a dress that is as unique as they themselves are. College students from Texas will witness the impact that a simple piece of clothing can have on another child of God, who lives a world away. Women from across the United States will see pictures of their handiwork worn by children whom they will never meet, but whom they love nonetheless. And those children will know that someone loved them enough to make them a dress.

Once again, God makes all things new.