Health Food -> Improved Vision?

At least once a week I make a walk down to Fresh & Easy to get food for the rest of the week. It is one of my favorite stores now as they have a great selection of salads, prepared meals, flavored water, etc... all the healthy stuff made easy and affordable! (I feel like a commercial.)

I also appreciate the walk because it is a good mile to get there. Nothing like a little bit of exercise on my lunch break! Usually I have a couple of my coworkers with me on the walk, but today I was solo and it was pretty nice and relaxing.

Then something happened to me that rarely, if ever, happens on the streets of Hollywood: Someone touched me. Not in a flirtatious sense and not in a way of someone trying to sell me something either, but a genuine touch to my arm like someone was reaching out for me. It shocked me. Who reaches out like that? In the middle of a crowd of people, it was impossible to see who it was that did it. But as I emerged from the crowd, I took the opportunity to look back and see who it could have been.

It was a little boy, not older than ten years old, with some sort of apparent handicap, and... very possibly blind. That's who reached out. Tenderly touching my arm as I brushed by without even taking notice of him. It choked me up... and I couldn't figure out why at first.

My initial thought was, "Jen, you used to be such a non-cry-er... and now? You're a pansy!" It's true too. While I used to pride myself in my 'strength' that was shown through not crying (boy was I wrong about what strength is), now a simple touch on the street had my throat tight. Next thing you know, I'll be crying through "Where the Red Fern Grows" like SOME people! (You know I love you mom!) :)

But as I continued to walk closer to the store, I started to realize not only why it shocked me so much, but why it touched me too. I watched the people who walked by me and I wondered if they also, deep down inside, want to be touched. To be seen. To be noticed. But given that we are people on our 'own walks of life' and people with hesitations that would stop us from reaching out, unlike this boy, who would truly show it? Instead, in this city of Hollywood, the people 'reach out' in the only way they know how to: through entertainment, through fake relationships, and, of course, through sex. Is this really what they're looking for? No. There's no way it could be, but it's the closest they can get to what they know deep down inside that they want.

It made me want to reach out to them in return. To get to know them. To see them for who they are. To gentle touch them on the arm, if nothing else. Not that I haven't wanted that for a long time before, but it made it stronger.

It made me want to give everyone I saw a hug. Even the man in a full red jumper yelling at himself. No... especially him.

Here I was, the one who could see, and yet I learned a new way of 'seeing' people from someone who couldn't...

"...God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong..." - 1 Corinthians 1:27

It All Comes Full Circle

Without doing too much catch up (I will do that in another blog to come sometime), I am now in children's ministry on Saturday nights. I feel completely unequipped and, ironically, having to teach a class of 4th-6th graders is scarier to me than approaching pimps on a dark night. Go figure ;)

Either way, God is continuously teaching me things through it. This last weekend was when he dropped a nice kick in the head through it...

Up until now I always saw the Prostitute ministry on Fridays night and the children's ministry on Saturday nights as two separate things. One night we are ministering to the lost and those who feel like they have no hope, and the next night we are ministering to kids through games, prayer, and Bible teaching.

But this last Saturday night it changed. I was standing outside watching the kids in our class playing on the playground. The two that specifically caught my eye were our two 6th grade girls... playing tag. "Wow," I thought. "On Friday nights I see girls their age selling themselves for money or for the acceptance of their pimp. And on Saturday nights, I see these girls full of innocence, still living out their childhood. What a contrast..."

And that's when it hit me. The two ministries are not unrelated. Not at all! They, in fact, completely feed into each other. In one, we are working to establish Jesus in children's lives so that way they do live an abundant life in Christ, capable of resisting the devil, his lies and his temptations in the world. In another, we are working to establish Jesus in these girls' (often times Children's!) lives so that way He can undo the damage that has been done already.

I thought about the girls on the street... Most of these girls grew up in church. Where were their children's church teachers now? What kinds of prayers did these teachers lift up for the children? For their home lives? For their love for Jesus? All of a sudden, children's ministry was not JUST 'Children's Ministry.' It became urgent. God opened my eyes to how important it is that I am there.

Jesus, I pray that I will be more diligent to pray for your little children and that you will use me to help establish a true love for You in their lives. Let me be used to prevent my Saturday night kids from becoming my Friday night ministry... I love you!