Lice for Jesus

I hugged her. I hugged Lynda, a girl who at 14 had already led a heartbreakingly tough life. I noticed the lice crawling in and out of her hair the moment I began talking with her. It was hard not to notice it. As she was crying, looking at me with the eyes of a girl who has had so little love and affection I knew I had a choice; I could hug her, really hug her and risk getting the lice or I could do what most people would do, simply pat her on the back, remaining safe from the infectious bug. I decided to hug her.
 
“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other.”  -Romans 12:9
                                                
I could have pretended that I loved her and kept my distance but I knew that was not true love. That is not the kind of love Jesus calls us to as His followers.
 
True love is humbling yourself enough to love someone in their desperate time of need, no matter the consequence.
 
Yesterday a woman told us a story of volunteers working with the lepers in India. For years volunteers would pass out donations through car windows, not wanting to get too close. Until one day a group of Christians pulled up and actually got out. They went to the lepers and actually hugged them. They put their arms around them, held them in their laps and loved on them. The atmosphere in the camp that day was of a love that had never been seen before. What a beautiful example of sacrificial love. I don’t know if I would get out, risking catching the highly contagious disease, but these people did.
 
In a few short weeks I have to put on a suit and pretend I didn’t recently hug kids with lice, getting infected with the “dirty” infestation. Lice is not something that would be understood in corporate America. Lice is dirty. Lice is for the poor. Lice is for children playing too close.
 
Sitting here in Panama I think to myself what getting lice means, what I had done to receive it. Soon I will be auditing and receiving a nice paycheck for my work. Currently, I am being the hands and feet of Jesus and receiving itchy lice in return. In a way, I would rather receive lice, knowing that I am making an eternal difference in this world, a difference that will last far longer than working for an earthly profit that will quickly fade.

 
But I would be lying if I said lice is the only thing I’ve received from being the hands and feet of Christ this year.