Challenge Point

At times over the last year and half, I have seriously felt the weightiness of other people on our nyc team. Job searches coming up empty. Houses not selling, or renting, or both. Discouragement in the workplace, in relationships, in life. The uncertainty of all aspects of being a part of this team, that is such a difficult thing to explain. That weight from myself, my wife, my children alone is tough to take. We get so caught up in this world and the standards of living here, and the expectations of our society, our families, our peers. Which, by the by, are meaningless according to Paul, and I agree that he is spot on. So as I see my friends suffer from discouragement, loss, uncertainty, and financial crises, I feel a bit of that weight for them.

And so this leads me to a powerful recognition. All of this weight is simply for the ones I am close to in this process, or even expanded to my friends, family, and coworkers. Even spread out to the woman I stopped for 'along my way' the other day that appeared to be on drugs or drunk or both, and fell into the street and was nearly run over by a car. As I stopped to try to help her, I felt the weight of her desperation as she told me she lost her daughter and couldn't find her. She may have been mentally ill on top of the substances she was under the influence of, but my heart still ached for the emptiness I saw in her eyes. All of these things brings me to the recognition-this is how God sees the entirety of humanity-he aches for us. He weeps for us. He feels our heartache and disappointment, our loss, our love of others. He has tears in his eyes as He reaches out to hold our hands and we turn and run from Him. He longs for us to turn to Him instead of the ways of this world, and we don't heed His voice and His spirit that He promises will guide us.

I think I am really starting to make some profound connections to Jesus and how He sees the world. Now if I could just do that in everything...

Comments

Mayes in Manhattan Blog said…
Totally. It is overwhelming, to think of the suffering, sorrow, anxiety, cares, sickness of "society". To see them all as our daughters and sons and spouses is to begin to see what God sees. In that, we find our mission, and why we must be Communitas.
February 8, 2009 at 11:32 PM
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