(Taken from “Street Kid Stories” by Benjamin Bradley)

There is a small 15 year old boy who came to the Lord through the street outreaches last year. His name is Slava. He trusted Jesus and claimed the promises of Matthew 6:33 and believed that if he sought the Kingdom of God that Jesus would provide for him. He learned not only how Jesus provided for him but also how to witness and share his hope in Jesus with other kids.

Up to this point the news about Slava has mostly been good. It has given us reason to praise God and celebrate, but three days ago, Slava after a year of fighting and believing, finally gave up. His mother had died just a few weeks ago, and for the first few days after the death he lived with our ministry teams on a make-shift bed in the office, but legally he could not stay there for long. For a period of time after that he stayed with various Christian friends in St. Petersburg. For three long days he walked the streets of St. Petersburg then slept in our office chair at night. Finally, exhausted physically and spiritually, Slava gave up.

Over several days, changes were noticeable in him as he became more distant. When asked where he had slept he said it was with friends but there was an uncomfortable silence that followed these “unknown friends” comments. Then three days go he came to the office, he had been beaten and stabbed in the foot with a knife. When asked what happened he said that his friend had beaten him.

It’s not easy to understand Slava without a translator, but he was able to express that his new friends did not want him to hang around Christians and that they wanted Slava to leave town with them the next day. As much as the desire to offer Slava a place to stay was pushing on our hearts, the knowledge that we could not make such an offer without raising the anger of the local police.

As he was getting ready to leave, he needed something to carry his meager belongings in so he removed the Bible and other Christian items that had always been so important to him from his backpack. He explained that the presence of these items might upset his new friends. He kept saying in simple English “me friend no Jesus, Slava no Jesus.” He looked longingly at the Bible he was laying down.

To be continued…