A Cry from the Streets

Title: A Cry from the Streets
Author: Jeannette Lukasse
Series: International Adventures
Major Themes: Children, Missionaries
Synopsis: When they are called to minister to the thousands of street children in one of Brazil’s major cities, Johan and Jeannette learn new levels of faith and through God’s love, see many people’s lives changed forever.

While visiting my grandma recently, I took time to look at her bookshelves. She’s a bit like Mom (or Mom’s a bit like her!) in that she loves books, and has a fairly big home library at this point. I found a fascinating series called International Adventures, and quickly settled down to read A Cry from the Streets. This book…it’s good on so many levels!

As newlyweds, Johan and Jeannette Lukasse felt called to the mission field. How this was ever going to be accomplished, though, was a different question. After thinking and praying, they decided to take the Discipleship Training Course that a new organization, YWAM, was teaching. Although it felt irresponsible in some ways, and their families greatly encouraged them to live normal, secure lives, they pursued the course and soon found themselves in Greece doing practical evangelism. Soon, they knew they wanted to become missionaries—but where?

Over the next few years, through many different lessons, God taught the Lukasses’ to trust in Him—not in man, or the circumstances surrounding them. He soon lead them to Brazil, where they began working among the street children—ones who, for one reason or another, took to the streets hoping for a better life than they could get in the slums their parents lived in. It wasn’t easy to work among the children, though, many who had left home at a very early age. Was God able to get through even to the hardest ones? Could He heal the wounds—spiritually and emotionally—of these precious children? Was Johan’s dreams of a safe house for them able to be realized, or did God have a different plan?

I really didn’t know what to expect when I started reading A Cry from the Streets, but it ended up being a very worthwhile story. I really appreciated Jeannette’s emphasis on relying on the Lord for guidance—that is something that’s needed more these days, and I loved seeing how that part of their faith acted as a role model for others. Also seeing how God used them was encouraging—I often wonder how God could use me to do His work—and their example that way was very good as well. And, as always, I simply found it encouraging to see real Christians living out their lives for Christ, trying to make a difference in their sphere of influence. Overall, I recommend this story.

WARNING: This book is not for younger readers. It starts out with a police chase and a man being beaten, and throughout the story it talks about the street children who join gangs, take drugs and other things to get “highs”, raping, prostitution, and some of the awful brutalities the children inflict on each other. I’d recommend this book for mid-late teenagers and up.