As we walk to ministry everyday, we are overwhelmed with brokenness.
Crippled beggars, severed limbs, and men crawling across the street, we’ve heard the stories of how some people got this way.
Street kids taken away, limbs severed, eyes burned out, then thrown back out on the streets to make more money. I wonder if the people I walk by everyday have similar stories.
All I see is grey and brown. Dust covered motorcycles, smog filled skies that make the sky a metallic grey. Even the houses that were once vibrant and colorful are covered in dust. This world I’m currently living in has a filter; an earthtoned, heavy filter covered in sadness and brokenness.
But as I walk past a beggar, a bright blue sparrow flies around me. And it doesn’t fit in this scenery. It belongs somewhere else like a rainforest or maybe even my backyard in Austin, Texas. Certainly not a place like this.
So I ask God what He’s trying to show me. Because just months ago I invited the Great Helper to take residency in my soul, and through experience, I know the spirit that lives within me will often times bring things to me in the most interesting of ways. So I’m really curious, and I don’t just figure this was a coincidence.
I’m listening to the Spirit’s whisper. It’s like a breeze. The little bird continues to fly around me. Five, six, seven times. Seven times. I feel His presence. I know He’s here.
What does the number seven have anything to do with this place? The Lord made the earth in seven days, so when I think of seven I think of completion. When I think of Kathmandu, I certainly don’t think of completion.
I sit and meditate on what the Lord put in front of me, and I’m able to make some conclusions.
I’m reminded of Genesis 1, the story of Adam and Eve. Out of pure love and respect, our father gave them the option. He gave us the option to eat from the tree. He could of made the tree out of reach, but out of love and respect he didn’t. I think this shows more of the fathers heart than any part of the Bible, and I don’t think that it’s coincidence that it’s in the first book.
When God completed the earth, Genesis 1:31 says “And God saw everything that he made, and behold, it was very good” When God said it is good, He meant it. Knowing all that will happen with is creation, all the good and the bad, I know my God is still content, saying “It is well”. He says this with the same confidence and hope that his followers have. So in the midst of the brokenness, hurt, and pain, I know that it is still well. If God could go back to the garden, he would still give us the option. We’re in the middle of the greatest love story of all time and I trust this and I trust in Gods plan.
I love that God uses little things like this to remind me of His great love and the hope that we have as Christians. It’s no wonder Jesus references the Holy Spirit as “the helper.”
When Jesus was leaving his people on earth, he said “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7)
Today I believe that more than ever.
