Blessed beyond measure. That’s how I feel right now. I’m currently at 39% of my goal for fundraising! That is truly exciting! Thank you SO much to everyone that has helped make that possible!
The last few weeks have been a blur of activity with work and different events going on, but in the mix of all that activity God has shown me how blessed I am to have so many great people in my life and he’s also taught me a lesson or two in the midst of all the activity…
It started out when my pastor played a video during his sermon and told us that he wanted us to look at each photo that came up, look at each person in the photos, and look for God in that person, see how He sees them. There were young people, old people, short and tall, big and small, black and white, all from different walks of life, but they have one thing in common; the fact that God loves them and sees them as His children.
This isn’t the same video he played, but it’s the same concept. We’re all different, but look at these people and look for what God sees in them.
It is so easy for us as humans to judge others on their looks, how they talk, or where they live, but that isn’t what God called us to do. He called us to love each other. Each and every person is made in His image, and we need to pay attention and be willing to see Him in each of them. I’ve been trying to pay more attention to how I view others lately and its cool to see how my view is changing a little with each day. I want to see more, I want to see what God sees, I want to love them like He loves them.
Next came Shine, prom for special needs adults that my church puts on every year. I’ve never participated before but this year I decided to help out. My job consisted of cutting it up on the dance floor and getting everyone else to join in the party. And it was a blast! There was one woman in particular that I just loved watching. I think she has down syndrome, but she didn’t let that stop her from going out there and being herself and enjoying every minute of it. Right from the start she had everyone making a circle around her clapping while she started break dancing and going to town, everyone around her was loving it! As I saw her throughout the night she hadn’t lost one bit of that energy and was the life of the party. Seeing the joy on her face was awesome. That night was about her, it was about each and every person there who may normally get looked over because of their special needs, but what I saw was Jesus. He was there in each of them and I could see it. Jesus wasn’t about going around and hanging out with all of the rich and religious people, instead he ate with the sinners, the poor, the outcasts. That is what this night was about, to treat all of these wonderful people how they deserve to be treated, loved, and to make them feel like princes and princesses, because that is exactly what they are, Children of God. That is how I want to see people.
And as you go about each glorious day, remember: “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau
We have an opportunity every day to see someone in a new light, to see them through Jesus’ eyes, don’t waste that opportunity. That is what I’m learning right now.
Now the blessings. Boy have I been blessed with some truly amazing friends. One friend in particular called me a couple weeks ago asking me to coffee. I haven’t seen much of him in the past year so I was excited to catch up. We’re sitting there talking and he asks me how fundraising is going and I had to be honest, “it’s going ok, not as great as I’d like it to be but it’s still going good”. He’s been struggling to fundraise himself to work with a campus ministry for the past 9 months and knows how hard it can be. But he looks at me and says that he wants to support me on my trip, then pulls out his checkbook and writes me a check telling me that I’m not allowed to return it to him. Did I mention how blessed I am? He had written me a $500 check. This guy who has been struggling to make enough money for his own ministry is willingly giving me such a blessing so that I can go into mine. Talk about trusting God and putting your faith, your money, your future, in His hands. It is so humbling to be on the receiving side of such faith. I want to have that kind of faith, and courage to take that leap of faith.
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38
