We just landed in India as we pulled over to stop at a restroom on the side of the road. Several of us walk into a small concrete building. There are several stalls of squatty potties. As I wait in line I look over and see a man sitting on a stool in the corner. A women comes out of the stall next to him and gives him money. He honestly looks in pretty bad shape. He’s shirtless, sweaty, dirty, and seems that one leg is seriously injured. He has a wooden cane. We use the restroom, pay him 5 ringgit and get back on the van. I couldn’t help but wonder:
Who was that man?
What circumstances in his life led him to collect fees from a women’s restroom?
Does he have family? Where are they?
Does anyone know that he’s here? Does anyone care?
Truth be told, I was taken aback at the truth I would never know this man even existed if I didn’t go into that bathroom. At the time, I didn’t know it, but that moment was preparing me for something big God planned to work into my heart while in India.
I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be whole and am without blame before Him. Ephesians 1:4
The Beggar
A week later, I found myself face to face with another forgotten soul.
We were helping tutor kids at a center founded by an American missionary couple. They recently hired a woman to clean the facility. We were told her story.
Her and her two little boys were beggars on the street. The wife walked past her often and began to talk with her. When she found out that her husband was not only cheating on her, but also spent all of their money on alcohol, she hired her. Soon after the wife took the woman to the doctor as she was displaying symptoms of HIV. A week before her doctor visit the woman gave her life to Jesus which gave her hope. The tests and the results happened during our week there. Thankfully, her results are negative!
One day at the center, I sat next to her. She speaks no English and I don’t know Canada, so I just talked. I held her hand as I asked her questions, told her about myself, and encouraged her with the love of Jesus. Somehow we laughed a lot and I felt so excited to know she was now my sister through Christ. And then, I thought:
If I would have seen her and her children on the street, would I have noticed her? Would I have stopped?
Am I only sitting this close to her because she is “safe” now?
To be honest, I walk past beggars all the time back home. Rarely does it occur to me to give money, let alone stop and talk with them. Why? They’re dangerous. Dirty. I’m busy. They’ll abuse what I give them. My decisions in those moments are all about me. They are based on my understanding. My comfort zone. As I heard how the wire saw, stopped, listened, and helped this woman I couldn’t help but see just how short I can fall of God’s glory. How my busyness and “knowledge” blind my eyes and lock my ears to how God may want to use me to love the least of these.
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then the righteous replied, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink…” And He will answer them, “Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:35-37, 40
The Living Trash
Lastly, we got to spend some time at a hospice for HIV patients as well as visit a home for people who are both homeless and infected with HIV. We learned quickly that HIV is a big issue here in India and like in most places, there is a major stigma attached to it. So, when people are infected, for whatever reason, they are disowned by their families.
For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in. Psalm 27:10
At the hospice we visited, we were told that the land used to be a garbage dump. How ironic I thought. What used to be a literal junk yard is now a place for society’s “trash” to receive hope, healing, reconciliation with families, and love in the name of Jesus. Through a heavenly sense of humor, God has redeemed this land.
I had a similar thought as we visited shelter nearby. All of these people (200 women plush more men and children) were picked up on the side of the road or dropped off by the police. They come there “to die with dignity.”
All of those mentioned in this blog are seen as trash. There is no other word to describe it. Disposable. Worthless. Rejected.
How many of us have ever felt that way? How many of us have ever felt unloved or even unnoticed? Our experience may look vastly different than those mentioned, but we’re receiving the same message. The same lie that we don’t belong, are a mistake, and aren’t worth fighting for. Jesus knows this feeling all too well for “he was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” Isaiah 53:3.
As I spend time with and pray over the “trash” in India, I begin to see what God sees, hurting souls and tender eyes. I see perseverance, hope, and priceless treasures. I begin to see God’s hand at work. I can look back and see how God sees each of us as worthy and more than worth fighting for. That regardless of what our families or society says about us, he never stops pursuing us. For those mentioned here, so much so that He used us to whisper His love and acceptance. Seriously, our Creator welcomes us with open arms and He never gives up on us. As long as we are breathing He is fighting. As long as we have a heartbeat, He woos us home. As long as we believe, He is able. What an incredible Savior!
As I have told countless of the forgotten this month, I tell you: Jesus loves you. His delight is to know you. You are significant to Him no matter what you’ve done or been told by others. He was rejected so that we don’t have to be. He never walks by, in facts He’s always by your side. The acceptance, affirmation, and worth you’ve cried out for is here.
His name is Jesus.
