When Jesus Sees

I am an urban missionary in Louisville, KY and I serve at a homeless shelter called Jefferson Street Baptist Center. They exist to extend gospel-centered mercy to the homeless and hurting of the greater Louisville, KY area. You can find out more about JSBC at www.jeffersonstreet.org. This is my recent newsletter about what God has been showing me while serving at Jefferson St.

When we were younger, we were taught to look away from those who are different. “Don’t stare, it’s rude!” Often people with disabilities make us uncomfortable, so we learn to pretend we don’t notice that someone has a deformity or scars or walks with a limp or moves around in a chair. Unfortunately, we sometimes take it one step further and pretend we don’t even see them at all  

Many times at Jeff. Street I come across people who look, talk, or act different due to physical or mental disability. We have many guests who get around by wheelchair, walk different, or have cancer.

Eddie, a day shelter guest, has cancer of the lymph nodes, and the cancer is spreading. He has been battling this for ten years. He no longer has a right ear and is about to lose his right eye. The doctor’s used a skin graft from someone’s chest, because the cancer is eating his face. Despite all of this, he has such a good spirit about cancer which encourages me.

Like Eddie, I sometimes overlook people who have a disability and don’t take time to sit and talk with them. I have missed many opportunities to see people the way Jesus sees them. Just because they may look or act different doesn’t mean I shouldn’t share Jesus with them.

God has been showing me I need to see others, to look at them and acknowledge their presence as God’s creation, precious in His sight. He has taught me to look into their eyes and see them as a human being and not a deformity, disability, or limitation.

He also reminded me I need to speak to them as I would anyone else. Being able to converse with them normally teaches me to not be intimidated by the person. Even if I am just talking about the weather, I would be expressing my interest in the other person’s life.

Everyone needs to know that they are valued. When we begin to see others as Jesus does, as human beings with value and significance, we might become the window through which they can see Jesus for themselves.

Please be in prayer for Eddie as he battles cancer. Please pray that I will not look past God’s creation; the people that come to Jeff. St. are no different than we are. Pray that I will have bold faith to share Christ with the least of these.

Availability Check

Many times I feel inadequate to share Jesus Christ with people that I come across with on an everyday basis. For some individuals this comes very easy to them, and they have no problem walking up to a person and sharing the gospel with someone. There are times when I think that I'm not equipped for this kind of work. Whether we tell people about God or we show them through our actions, we are called to live a life that brings others to Christ! When God calls us to do something bigger than we think we can handle, He will equip us by working through us. We learn to rely on His strength, not our own abilities. Simply put, God doesn't look for abilities, He looks for availabilities. I am reminded that when I hear God's voice calling my name, I can be confident in Him that He will give me the words to speak. And that it will not be me, but God speaking through me. All you have to do is be obedient to His calling, rely on His strength, and be available. God will use you in mighty ways to do the work for His kingdom as long as you let Him.

"In a very real sense, not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do His work, to bear His glory." -Madeleine L'Engle