I never saw that movie, but if ever there was a "band of brothers"...

I was with the Father's House boys, day and night, for 11 nights. No doubt, Jake and Chanda have seen a skirmish or two, but in 11 days of being with these boys, I never even saw an argument. These boys play together, learn together, work together, build together, and bunk together. Never saw one argument.

I wonder about the bond they share. All of them were slaves. All of them know the pain of suffering on the lake, crying at night over their mothers, the ache of rejection that comes with feeling abandoned, sold, betrayed, forsaken. They talk together about the boys they know who are still on the lake. They pray for them and long to go back to the lake and see their friends rescued. They all share the same trauma.

And they share the same joy! They have been rescued. They live in a home where they are fed. They are loved. They have their own beds, their own footlockers with clothes and shoes in them. The English they have learned is amazing. They have their own soccer team that won every game while we were there! Soon they are going to school together. Pity the kid who picks on one of them at school--I believe he may have seven others on his hands!

And they have a revelation of God's heart for them. They know He is a rescuing, redeeming Father and they believe in His Son.

I look into the future and I see these young men carrying that ministry of reconciliation, redemption back into the villages they came from, proclaiming the love of God, the power of His forgiveness, the hope He alone can bring. I see them going into their villages, back to the lake, two by two, bringing the message of this God who rescues the lost, who is a Father to the Fatherless.

I see them taking the next group of boys brought into the Father's House under their wing, mentoring them, encouraging them, looking after them. Teaching them what they know of the Lord Jesus. I like thinking about the future these boys have, the impact they can have on a nation. They are truly a "band of brothers."

by Jeff Miller, Father's House Co-founder