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Because he pursues us, we should pursue others.
At El Shaddai everyone is paired up with one or two children who are your ‘buddies’ whilst staying at the top of the mountain.
My buddy was a girl called Naomi, she is a beautiful and bright young girl. In fact I forgot on many occasions that she was only 11-years-old. Our schedule meant that between 3pm-5pm we would help our buddies with their homework and reading. Naomi was home schooled until 4pm so I only got to hang out with her from 4pm-5pm.
For the first couple of days, it was a struggle but I would find her eventually and we would read for a bit and then talk. But she was very closed off from me.
Then one day she explained.
‘I hate the World Race, I don’t like the way that I have a new buddy every month that I have to hang out with, but then they leave.’
She was honest with me. She had opened up!
Then, homeschool hours got extended until 5pm, meaning it was going to be hard to find time to hang out with her. I didn’t know what to do, I would ask if she wanted to hang out and she would say no, I would pursue and pursue and get nowhere. So I prayed.
At the end of the second week at church on Sunday I asked when she wanted to hang out and she said she missed me when I had been sick the previous Friday.
I was getting somewhere.
So that week we would hang out from 5:30pm-6pm and we would just talk, I got to know her heart and she got to know mine. She would ask questions about England, the race, sport.
Don’t get me wrong, it was still hard. If I didn’t go to her, she wouldn’t come to me. But I pursued her none-the-less. Sometimes we would hang out, other times we wouldn’t. But slowly this girl was learning to trust me.
Then one day a member of my team gave me this feedback:
‘I love the way that you continue to pursue Naomi, even though it is difficult, even though she says no a lot of the time. It shows Jesus in you because Jesus continues to pursue us through everything’
That struck a chord with me!
I was being like Jesus, just because I was pursuing someone.
Earlier in the month someone had told me then that I was a pursuer, that I was the kind of person who would seek others. I thought to myself, no I am not, I want to be pursued!
The lesson I learnt through this is that although yes I like to be pursed, who doesn’t! In actual fact I am very good at being the pursuer, pursuing others so that they don’t feel left out and loving on people like Jesus did.
When I left El Shaddai on Tuesday Naomi was very shy with saying goodbye to me, until it got time for me to get into the van, then she ran up to me and gave me a massive hug and told me she was going to miss me.
I had impacted her life, I had shown her Jesus’ love and that is all that matter.
We are called to pursue people, just like Jesus pursued us. He didn’t promise us it would be easy, but it is fulfilling. I found that with Naomi, although at times it was hard, at the end of the day it was rewarding. This girl just needed to feel loved. The love of Jesus.
In the same way your father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:14
