Can a person love someone they have never met? I would have said no about two weeks ago, prior to Tom Ashworth and Kim McCoy’s (father and daughter) visit to Children’s Home Ethiopia. Undoubtedly Tom and Kim came all the way to Ethiopia because they had fallen in love with the children they had learned about, supported, and prayed for through The Forsaken Children. I was so impressed when Tom called several of the children by name when they first walked in the door – no introductions necessary. And Kim came just looking for Desse, the little boy she had been praying for ever since she learned of his struggle to stay off of the streets.
What’s more, it took Tom and Kim one glance before they began to love the new children coming to the Drop-In Center. After a week of seeing these new beneficiaries playing, learning, fighting (a lot), and simply living the tragic yet realistic street life, Tom and Kim’s hearts were in these children’s hands. At their goodbye ceremony, Kim’s tears and heartfelt message of love was so powerful that many of the boys were in tears. She simply told them that she loved them, a message that was hard for many of them to understand. Ashenafi, one of the new beneficiaries, said later, “How can these people love us? They’re not our family or even from our same country.” 
What an amazing picture of what God can do in a person’s heart. I believe it is because of their love for Jesus that Tom and Kim were so easily enraptured with love for these children – these strangers. Their love so impressed Ashenafi that the Holy Spirit moved his soul to accept Jesus as his Savior and Lord. Praise God for Tom and Kim, and especially for their love!