Let me be real. Some days on the World Race are frustratingly hard.
The hard days are the ones that break your heart.
break my heart for
what breaks yours
Last Thursday was one of those days. Let me explain:
If you read one of my recent blogs STOP PERSECUTING, you
read about how I like to defend people. Basically, if someone is charged with a
certain label, I’ve got his or her back. For the gypsy people, that means I
refuse to think of them as thieves, as beggars, as pests, as dumb, as outcast.
God does not see them that way, so neither should I.
Thursday challenged me in this.
Early that morning, the three teams in Bucharest, visited a
gypsy village to bring winter clothes and hang out with the kids.
The children were hyped up as if on sugar, as if they had
not been disciplined with love before. They were running around, climbing on
the van, getting IN the van, acting like psychos, hitting, etc. They were beautiful as always, but starting to push my buttons.
One little boy (probably the cutest one) even bit me on the arm and held on tight.
After many attempts at trying to discipline him, I finally
took him aside to a curb and began to chat with him in English and count to 60.
He finally calmed down and stopped trying to get away.
As I was sitting with kid #1, another boy ran quickly toward
me and swiped my sunglasses off my face. He took them to a muddy puddle and
began to tease me with them. All I could do is continue sitting and shout out
“You are a jerk, kid!� Just as quickly as he came, he ran down an alley and
disappeared with them. Goodbye Oakley’s.
My heart broke. I
tried to defend the gypsies and all they have done is slapped me, bit me, and
stolen my gifts. Why do I keep trying to love them?!
I took these thoughts with me to worship that night, and I
surrendered them back to God. I was convicted and began to beat myself up: You
are God’s gypsy! You are the thief!
Thank God he quickly shot down those thoughts and corrected me:
“No, Lisa, You USED to be. You used to fight me, slap me,
bite me, steal and squander my gifts. Sometimes you still do, but you are NOT a
thief. Â You are not a slave to sin.
You are dead to sin; you are a Saint who sometimes sins.
I didn’t abandon you when you slapped me in the face. I
loved; I always loved. Be that love to everyone you meet.
Be the Redeeming Love I’ve shown you.”
Jesus came to turn humankind upside down: he told us to love our enemies and not expect love in return.
He told us it wasn’t about law anymore, but love.
