A friend from the Central African Republic

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:  1 Peter 2:9

I met this young man in the Central African Republic.  He is an orphan.

One thing that I remember well about him was the day I met him.  While the rest of the children at the project he attends were playing he came out and away from the crowd, wearing a paper crown and greeted me.  

It struck me that he was the only child with a crown on his head, and how different he was than the others.  At that moment I remembered the words of Peter, that as followers of Christ we are to be different from the crowd, and that as members of God's family we are in fact royalty - even if the crowns we wear while on earth are only made of paper.