Jesus is in the dump.
There is an endless stretch of garbage and refuse.
There are cows milling, dogs scavenging, and vultures circling overheard.
There are men, women, and children…even babies.
All searching for something. Enough cardboard to make some money to live on for the week. Food.
…Hope, maybe.
The stench is overwhelming. The atmosphere is chaotic.
My immediate self-decided role is to venture out to invite people to eat lunch and join us for some singing and testimonies at the bus. I make it a point to smile and look into the eyes of every person I pass. I can tell this isn't a common practice. I become so persistent in this that for the time, I forget I am picking my way through the city's trash and the smell nearly disappears.
Because Jesus is there, I know he is. If Jesus were walking the earth, this is exactly where he would be and the people he would be hanging out with. And I am determined to find him.
As I begin to talk with my new 73 year old friend Francisca, as I pray for her (and she prays for me), as I sit in the trash just to hang out and talk with a group of young boys, something becomes glaringly clear: these people are not just the people that live in the dump.
They are not just their circumstances. And if that is all I can see…I will miss out.
I will see the pain, the hurt, and the brokenness…My heart will be broken for the things that break the Father's heart…but I will miss just how much He loves and delights in His children there. I will miss the unique things He has spoken over each and every one of them because I will be so consumed in my own sadness.
My friend Micah's heart is drawn toward a group of men, and he grabs me to come talk to them and help translate.
After we pray for the men and they disperse, a man named Alex walks up, hungry for something. We talk about his life, his family, his suffering, his desire for God. We pray, and he looks up at me and says that he can feel the Spirit of the Lord in his heart.
Suddenly, I look at this guy, this chance encounter with a man in the middle of the city dump- and I see Jesus. I see Jesus in his eyes. I see that Jesus is here, in the dump, and he is at work. He has not forgotten or forsaken this place or these people.
I found Jesus in the dump.
He loves them. And He is here.
