A few months ago if you gave me these words—this is how I would have described them.
orphan= lonely and lost
man in rehab= screwed up
woman crying alone on the beach=depressed
Now.I have so much more to say
with a lot less judgment and a lot more reality.
Orphan=
I get the image of a 14 year old girl with white head phones in her ears, standing on top of a mound of dirt with a smile on her face. Between every shovel full of dirt, she busts out with both a new dance move and a giggle.
man in rehab=
the ear-splitting grin of the very tanned, withered man we have all come to love. Always offering a hello, a good morning and a smile. A man who works every day in the hot sun to help build a church for our Lord. A man who as an adult turned from years of what I can only imagine to be extreme pain and sorrow, and changed his life.
Woman crying alone on beach=
One of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, and one I will hold dear in my heart for the rest of my life. My new friend who teaches me words in Russian while asking me to explain everything in English. A woman who loves the Lord in such a personal way it draws me in, to the point where I physically lean toward her. A woman who despite her husband threatening to leave her, feels no shame in letting her tears fall freely at the beach while she talks about how much she loves her Jesus whom she knows will never leave her.
The 'reality' we see is not the reality that exists. Next time you feel lost, or alone, like the world has just gone plain bad…you feel that God has left this place. I encourage you to look again.
We often miss the hope that exists in the world because we are busy looking for the face that meets how we feel at that moment.
But Jesus is so alive.
Today I saw Him in the faces of those the world calls outcasts. The people the world thinks just don't belong. The ones that get thrown out, to the side, to be forgotten about. We don't let them in.
The truth is that they do not need to be let 'in', for they already hold the key. The difference between 'them' and 'us' is they would never shut the door in our face.
I saw God today.
In the face of an orphan, a man in rehab, and a crying woman on the beach.
The world would take one look at them and call them lost.
To me; the only word that fits is – found.
