I’ve seen a lot this year. I’ve seen prostitutes, and orphans, and African babies. I’ve seen baptisms and funerals and a wedding. I’ve seen people give their lives to Christ and people curse at us for telling them about Jesus. My fellow squadmates have seen just as much, but it seems that each of them has something specific that God has broken their heart for. One of my teammates just loves kids and every time she sees one it breaks her heart a little more. I have a friend who already has a whole business plan for how to get prostitutes out of the bars.
And then there was me.
God has not done that for me. In fact, in Ireland I had to tell the founder of the World Race that my heart hadn’t broken this year. Eek…that was awkward. The truth, however, isn’t that the Lord hasn’t broken my heart; it just hasn’t broken for for what I thought it should break for.
Allow me to explain. You read these World Race blogs and you prepare to go see some horrible things, and you just expect your heart to break for the modern day slaves, and the kid whose mom left him for dead because she was strung out on drugs, or the mentally handicapped children or the 7 families living in a hut the size of my bedroom back home. And yes, my heart certainly cracked for all of these situations and people…but truly broken? I can’t say that’s the case.
Now, let’s examine the people that I’ve met this year that have completely broken my heart…a counselor that loves to drink, a homeless poet, a German dishwasher, a Thai village, a Cambodian masseuse, men grocery shopping with prostitutes, a drunken cancer patient, a nutritionist from Colorado, a photographer from Florida, a couple of Texans, and several other randoms.
None of these have a common thread, though. And that made me feel…well…lame. I was crying out to God, “Break me! I want my heart to break for Your people!” And then a friend pointed out something- God did break my heart, so how dare I say He broke it for the wrong things!
I prayed that God would break my heart for what broke His this year. And He did that. His heart breaks for the ordinary people, just as much as the prostitutes and orphans. And that’s what He broke my heart for- regular, ordinary people. No, it’s not as glamorous as some of my other friends’ passions but it’s mine. Because, really, there’s no such thing as an ordinary person. Every life on this Earth is divinely created by the Lord, and He is madly in love with every “ordinary” person we come in contact with.
of Judah so that the glory of David’s family and the
leaders in Jerusalem won’t overshadow the ordinary people in Judah.
Zechariah 12:7 (MSG)
