The last week of our month in Malaysia, we traveled by bus two hours south to a small town that held a place called Bethany Home. Bethany Home is a school for the mentally challenged.
Our mission: to encourage.
The director of this school is a such a man of faith. By faith, this school exists…and it exists to give these kids a future and a hope. This man had some stories to tell! I felt I could sit at his feet taking in every word he said. Some people have such a strength and wisdom about them that you just want to soak up everything they can offer before your paths go in different directions. Well, one of his stories I will never forget and I want to share it with you.
Bethany Home takes in volunteers all the time. There was this one stereotypical jock that happened to find himself on their doorstep…we’ll call him Alex. So Alex strutted in and told the Director that he wanted the hardest of all the kids. So he got what he asked for. Alex got a teenage boy in a wheelchair who had to be completely cared for….we’ll call him Stan. Alex had to bathe Stan, clean him up after the bathroom, feed him, and wait on him hand and foot. The Director noticed that Alex never ate; little to guess why, it was almost nauseating watching Stan eat as the drool and food spilled over his mouth. Alex finally came ,in to the Director’s office saying he wanted to quit, and that’s when he got a rude awakening. He was told, “Do you expect to help only young beautiful people? Does Jesus only love them? Didn‘t he come for the outcasts, the sick, and the rejected?”
By the time that Alex‘s volunteer time was complete, him and Stan became inseparable. Alex said something I will never forget. He said, “One day your going to see Stan in Heaven and you’re not even going to recognize him. One day Stan is going to speak clearly. One day he won’t need a wheelchair because he will walk. One day Stan’s mind will think clearly, his face won’t be distorted, and Stan will be healed.” It’s so true, one day all of those kids will be perfect in heaven.
As I thought about this story of transformation, I realized that isn’t this the truth for all of us?!?!? One day when I get to heaven, you may not recognize me because the work that God is doing in me will be complete. I will be made whole. I will be united with my Maker. In reality, we are all “works in progress”. LORD, teach me to have eyes to see every person for what they are becoming and who God is making them to be; to have vibrant imaginations of hope for one another! Amen
