Today my sister, mom, and I decided to do some touristy stuff. After all, we’ve never been to New York and this is going to be the last weekend I get to spend with them for the next year. After spending time doing bus tours all day, it was finally time for our Broadway event-39 Steps, which, by the way, is a hilarious play. We hopped in a taxi so we could be sure we’d be on time for our play where I found God messing with my heart a bit. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a New York taxi before, but they all have these little tvs in them with weather and news and such running. I don’t know, I guess they just figure we need to be stimulated at all times and the busy world around us isn’t enough. Well, either way, I found myself in this taxi with God in control of what came on that screen. This is what came on.
To be honest, I don’t even know if my mom and sister saw it. It’s not long-only about 30 seconds or so, a typical public service announcement. Nothing about it was typical for me though. My heart started to break minutes before from my first Broadway play. I tried to just jot down the information about it and push it to the back of my mind. I mean, I’m supposed to get to enjoy these last few days, right? I’m not a missionary yet!
Well, the play was definitely great and dinner was delicious too (I even ate a salad!) but God wasn’t done tugging on my heartstrings. As we walked back to our hotel, about 11:30 or so, I can’t even tell you how many people we passed getting ready to settle in for their night’s rest right there on the side of the street. With each person we passed, my heart simply broke more. I remembered the PSA from the cab. I remembered ATL from camp. I even remembered being nearly moved to tears at the way a young guy offered his comfortable window seat for the yucky middle seat so a dad could sit next to his kid on the plane. I remembered why I’m in New York in the first place.
You see, as much as I love this last little vacation, the truth of the matter is-my heart’s already breaking. It’s been breaking from the moment I stepped foot on that plane (and before that even!) and it’s only going to break all the more. I’m ready for it to break. I’m ready for it to shatter. And with every single broken piece, I’ll offer it up to the Lord.
