Totsi

The dog in the foreground of the above photo lives in Red Hill and goes by the name Totsi (South African for gangster or thug). Like so many of the children in Red Hill, Totsi shows up every day at our afternoon Kids Club. I have no idea who owns him or where lives; he’s just always there.

Totsi doesn’t always get the love he deserves. When I arrived in July, he had a scar behind his neck where someone had stabbed him. Occasionally I’ll catch one of the kids kicking or smacking him, no doubt because that’s what they’ve learned from the adults. I love animals, so Totsi knows he’s found a friend in me, and I always encourage the kids to be his friend too.

It occurs to me that Totsi is representative of the people of Red Hill. He’s a little rough around the edges, but he has so much potential for love and faithfulness if he’s just given a little love himself. Like Totsi, the Red Hill residents endure a hard life. They are mired in poverty and other social ills. Some of them aren’t always easy to love, but that’s what they’re crying out for. A lot of Christ-followers are working in Red Hill to offer it to them – because that’s what Jesus would do and it’s by His presence that they’ll be transformed.

Please don’t misunderstand – I’m not calling the people of Red Hill dogs. I’m simply observing that they are among the least, the last and the lost that Christ gave His life for. It’s often those people who are in the best position to humbly receive His life-changing love. “But many who are first will be last,” Jesus said, “and many who are last will be first.”

As Paul told the believers at Corinth: “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).