by A worker in Asia
18 January 2005

I thought my Cabbage Patch Kid days were over by the time I was 13 years old. My old one is safely stored with some favorite stuffed animals. Within my first month back in East Asia though, I was introduced to a real live Cabbage Patch Kid.

A few local co-workers and I have begun weekly visits to a village an hour drive and 45 minute hike away from where I live. God has seemed to impress to us that He would like us to consistently go, pray and build relationships with those people for a potential community health development project there.

We had just begun visiting when we met a 24-year-old young man whose family had recently been the first in the village to put their trust in God and be released from their fear of the spirits. Not more than two days after meeting him, he arrived at the clinic, frenzied and with wind-blown hair. He spoke rapidly; enough for me to know that his wife had delivered a baby and he wanted us to visit her at the hospital.

Upon arriving at the hospital, the real story of the delivery unraveled. The 21-year-old woman had gone into labor and their family (including their six-year-old) had hiked down the mountain of mud in the dark. They did not make it to the road, however, in time. The new little one emerged when they got to the point on the path of a cabbage patch. Her husband delivered his own son on the muddy path, in the dark of night, without any medical personnel. After his son was born, the family continued to proceed down the path on foot until reaching the road. The husband was then able to transport his wife to the hospital for stitches.

That afternoon, we got to pray over and hold that Cabbage Patch Kid. I could not help but be reminded that the circumstances were strikingly similar to the arrival of my Savior.

May we celebrate the birth of Jesus who gives us true freedom to openly serve our Master. He has broken the chains that bind us. Let us tell everyone!