Do You See Them?

Do you see them?

The man in the orange jumpsuit. Marked for the rest of his life. In a relentless prison system that loves to get people stuck.

Do you see them?

The one with the cardboard sign and blankets sitting on a curb. With an empty stomach and no place to rest their weary body. No place of belonging.

Do you see them?

The girl on the corner, in the short skirt, walking down a street, waiting for a stranger, with only one thing on his mind. Waiting to please and hopefully make some cash. Threatened. Controlled. Trapped.

Do you see them?

The black boy walking to the corner store, as aware of his color as he is of the cops watching him, and the sad, but obvious correlation between the two.

Do you see them?

The one on the corner, waiting to sell the drugs in his pocket, his mind occupied by the hungry little one back home. Only trying to provide a meal.

Do you see them?

The one addicted to drugs. Raped as a child, she found a way to leave it all. Tired eyes. Dependent on a substance that cares no mind to its faithful user, yet it catches her fall. It's there for her more than anyone ever was.

Do you see them? 

They are there. All around you. Don't be fooled by the stereotypes. They are human. They have faces and names and stories. Hardened eyes that cry to be seen, to be heard, to be loved.

What will it take for us to see them?

His Name Is Love

“I think that’s what our world is desperately in need of – lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about.”
                                      ― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution

We are called to be lovers.

Simple as that.

Lovers learning more and more about Love, Himself, so that we can become as He is and be able to love more fully. If we are pursuing a lifestyle of God, we are pursuing a lifestyle of love. If I am asking God to be present, love must be present.

How do they so often get separated in the mix of things?
How do we so easily forget?

Sometimes we get too caught up in the routines of life, sometimes we get too caught up in the rules, sometimes we get too caught up in morals and right and wrong and what we should do.

But what we should do, above all, is love.

Love is close.
Love means to know.

Yet we so often stay distant.

We throw money into cans of college students raising money for some distant cause, yet we won't look down into the faces of the people right in front of us.

When you think of the causes you support, do you see their faces?
Do you know their faces? Do you know their names?

Love is hard.

It requires you to step down. It requires you to humble yourself.
It requires A LOT of work. To keep loving no matter what.

As hard as it is, it is what we are called to.

I often think that if our goal, in everything that we did, was simply to love, the world would change.

When we truly start to love enough to know their faces, everything will change.

You will change.
They will change.
And the world will change one relationship at a time.

I truly believe that.

Love.
That is our mission.

Love.
That is our call.

Love.
That is His name.

And if that's who He is, it's who I want to be as well.

My God?
His name is Love.

Do you know His face?