I saw an old white man with a long beard and faded collar shirt, screaming in the intersection of Hampton and Singleton the other day. On the other corner was a young guy in his twenties with a long beard and nasty backpack, screaming and stumbling and obviously strung out on something. Just the night before I’d watched a car pull up to my neighbor’s house – the man was feigning for meth and they cussed and threatened each other’s lives in the name of the precious drug. I thought about some friends who abuse prescription drugs so heavily that they’re no longer mentally or emotionally present in our conversations; they’re walking zombies.
The scenes running through my mind only perpetuated my feelings of hopeless about the state of our world. There’s tragedy on every corner of every neighborhood in the world. So many people who are abused – physically, sexually, emotionally, verbally. So many kids are abandoned; whether by dads who bolt at birth or workaholic parents who don’t know the children who sleep in their home. So many people are suffering from mental illness while others are enslaved to addictions they never intended to start. All of us our victims and perpetrators, wounded and wounding.
I thought about how mentors sign up to meet some of the specific needs of our community in West Dallas, but then mentors have their own burdens that keep distance between them and their students. Then my shortcomings came to mind and I was discouraged by my inability to do more for our high school girls. I passed Fiesta, then Pinkston, then the homes in Lakewest, and I felt utterly hopeless for the tragedies of our world to turn around. Sometimes it feels like the cycle of selfishness is carried by each of us and breathed onto everyone around us, and it can all feel so helpless.
Our God is the God who provides. That ray of truth burst through my hopeless cloud and brought my cynical thoughts to a halt. Initially I thought to myself, “Yeah right God. You’re going to provide new dads for all the abandoned kids in the world?” And I felt the weight of the truth that our God is the Father who provides for His children. I tend to reject that idea because I’ve heard it misused so many times – as if God is a big piggy bank who pours out coins on his children when they behave. But when I choose to reject the TRUTH that our God is a God who provides, I’m choosing to deny the power of Christ’s sacrifice for us.
I thought about the story of Abraham, where he explicitly refers to God as his provider. His conversation with his son, Isaac, is such a startling yet refreshing story of faith. As they were heading up to the altar to offer a sacrifice, Isaac said to his dad: "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham replied, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." (Genesis 22) Ultimately, God did provide the lamb for that offering – and it’s a foreshadowing of the offering He provides for every single human being to ever walk the face of the earth. The offering is Jesus Christ, who came in human form, to defeat death and extend an invitation for us to rise with Him in the newness of life.
Because Jesus came to dwell among us, He provided a way out of the addictions that hold us in their grips of death. Because Jesus died on our behalf, He provided a way for those of us who are drowning in despair to find life. Jesus provided the ability for us to get off ourselves long enough to enter into someone else’s life – to love them right where they are, in the middle of their mess. Jesus provided a way for us to share in His work of redemption in the lives of individual students in West Dallas even when we feel like we don’t have any time or answers. God has provided everything we need to follow Him wholeheartedly and serve the world around us. The answer is to run after Jesus with all our hearts; to live like He lived and value the things He valued. It seems like an impossible task until we remember He's already made the way for us.
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