The Day I Was Taken

We were told to choose a vehicle. We climbed into the back of a truck and sweat immediately drips down my face, my back. We start off and about ten minutes later, the truck stops and we put blindfolds on. We go a ways down the road and make a left. We aren’t on the pavement anymore. As we are all jumbling about, my nose picks up a scent. It’s not pleasant. It smells sour, rotten. Then the swarm comes – flies everywhere. They stick to my arms, my legs, my face. There’s too many to even swat at. Finally the truck comes to a complete stop. A hand reaches for mine and helps me down. My feet touch the ground and something crunches beneath them. Every step a new crunch. There’s a smoky smell now mixed into the stench of rotting food. After several minutes, the hand next to me starts to pull me forward. We come to a stand still and we hear the count: “1, 2, 3 remove your blindfolds.”

 

As my eyes work to adjust to the blinding light, trash comes into my vision. We’re at the dump. 

 

I’ve seen dumps on the race before. So this was easy. At first. It didn’t look much different than things I had seen. Actually, I kept thinking of all the “worse” things I’ve seen. We started walking through the dump and when we came to the fork in the road, I looked to my right and there they were. Children and women who lived there in the midst of trash. My legs started moving toward them before my mind could even catch up. There was something I needed to see, to learn. And then I saw her. I was frozen, unable to move from the spot that my feet had carried me to. She was covered from head to toe, even in the blistering heat. She was digging through a small mountain of trash where four cows were munching and a million flies were swarming. I watched as she picked through to find something, what, I was not sure. Plastic maybe. Or glass bottles to sell. Minute after minute rolled by but as tears started falling from my eyes, my focus remained on her. I finally asked the Holy Spirit what He wanted to show me, to teach me, to reveal to me. And this is what I heard: 

 

“The trash that you see. The heaps of rubbish, piled up as far as your eye can see, smoke billowing as room is made for more; that is your sin. That’s the darkness of this world. It’s the lies, the lust, the greed, the selfishness, the insecurities, the idols, the bondage that used to rule your life. This is why I came. It is from this rubble that I saved you. I looked down and saw not trash, I saw the life caught in the trash. And that life was worth saving. It was worth dying for. Now when I look down at you, I see you white as snow. I see you surrounded by light, by love. The scent that radiates from you is lovely and sweet. The aroma pleases me. I see righteousness and I see freedom. I see a bride, dressed in white, more beautiful than anything else in the world. Remember who you are in me. Remember where you came from. And remember to see past the trash and treasure the life. Fight for the life.” 

 

I then find myself snapping back to reality and in the middle of worship – different tongues singing praise to the same King. As we broke bread and partook of the “wine”, my heart was full. I stood in that moment wholly surrendering my entire life to Jesus for the first time in a long time. I not only saw Him hanging on the cross, but I saw myself hanging there with Him. We were one. My old self has been crucified with Him. My permanent home is heaven. My heart is His. The permanent state of my being is SAVED. 

 

Today was the day that I was taken by Jesus. Today was the day that I chose to never forget what He’s done for me. Today was the day that I saw the world through the eyes of its Creator. And these whispered words from the Holy Spirit will continue to shape the way I see this world: “See past the trash Meghan and treasure the life. Fight for the life.”

 

“Who can be compared with the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high? He stoops to look down on heaven and on earth. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, even the princes of his own people!” Psalm 113:6-8