Romania Stories

Out of the Pit, by Rachel Simons

Yesterday I climbed down into the water pipe canals for the first time. I happened upon the boys as they were climbing out, one at a time. There were six of them: Nicu, Vali, Bogdan, Sebastian, Iulian and Ion, all crammed insided this tiny space. When they saw me passing by they laughingly called me over to see their home. But none of them expected me to climb down in to take a better look. Bogdan started laughing uncontrollably as he stood outside the hole in the ground and watched my head disappear below the surface. Sebastian was my tour guide and proudly showed me his sleeping spot, a shallow tunnel in the dirt wall above some hot water pipes. The cavern was a tiny space; I could hardly turn around twice, and it was filled with water and sewer pipes disappearing into the earth in all different directions. But it was warm, very warm. Even before I climbed down in I could feel the heat rising from the open hole as I stood over it peering down inside.

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” (Ps. 40:1-2)

The hole I climed into was not slimy or muddy, but it was definitely a pit, a ladder descending into darkness. When it was time to climb back out, I couldn’t do it alone. Ion stood up above and grabbed both my hands to help pull me out.

I see these kids almost every day either at the drop-in center where we share a hot meal, sing and play games, or on the street where we play soccer and eat cold sandwiches. I’ve become accustomed to their dirty clothes and ragged appearace and they have become friends. They tell jokes, laugh at my language mistakes, and beg me to sing just one more song on the guitar after we have already sung five or six. In the safe, warm environment of the drop-in center, it’s easy to forget where these kids come from, where they actually live.  But yesterday, I saw for the first time where some of them sleep -- a  dark hole in the ground, protected from the wind and cold, but vulnerable to police raids at night.

And so I am humbled and reminded of the sobering reality of life on the streets. I am also compelled to pray for deliverance, for a miracle, for God to pull these precious ones out of the pit and give them a firm place to stand.

The following verse in Psalm 40 reads:

“He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.”  (Ps. 40:3)

Can God pull these youth out of their pit? Can he put a new song in their hearts, a song of praise rather than one of cursing? I believe He can. I must believe. And my prayer is that one day many will come to know and believe in Jesus Christ through the testimony of these teens, these who have tasted and known life in a pit of despair but have been rescued and pulled out of darkness by the hand of God. Theirs is a testimony that none will be able to deny. “Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.”

Rachel serves among street children in Galati, Romania.