Saturday, July 23, 2005

Hello to the few and far between people who may end up reading this.

My summer has been absolutely breath taking. I haven't updated this thingy, but I feel moved to today. Today evil stared directly into my eyes and taunted me as if nothing I could ever say or do would challenge its existence. I know there is injustice in this world, I’ve been told -- I am avid in keeping up with the news. I sat down to have dinner with my host for the summer in honor of my and an underprivileged kid's birthday at Ryan's. First I want you to understand who this host is, this man is an awesome warrior for Jesus. He’s a single retired lawyer and his selflessness shines about him. He has volunteered as a foster parent for decades and ended up adopting one some odd years back. Since then his son graduated high school and joined the military. Now he is married and lives in North Carolina. Since his son's departure, he began a new project. This new project has proved to be the toughest and most disheartening. I've lived with Gary since May and we have discussed life and it's follies over and over again. On his refrigerator a quote adequately defines his philosophy of life:
" A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child." Reader's Digest, January, 2002.
He loves kids. That is his passion in life, it always has been.
Now back to our conversation this evening. This underprivileged kid’s name is Jonathan. He was included in the newest project of Gary’s life. Jonathon just turned 19 and he was born with a brain tumor that left him mentally handicapped. There are three brothers in this family, each with a different father. Gary began this project five years ago when he received word via a business associate that this family was in desperate need. They had no money for clothes or food or anything any child deserves. When Christ calls us to have faith like children, what he is saying is that we are to not worry about provisions in life. We are not to worry about how life will work out or whether we will be accompanied by a mate till the end of our days or whether we are to maintain a decent level of health. Children are completely innocent in their stature. As a child you hold the belief that life is good, and that tomorrow holds endless possibilities. We must identify with this! We must strive to understand that there is a place where our trust is safe, a place where we are never rejected, a place where we are always listened to and cared for. This is what God longs to do for each of us, he really really really wants to serve us as Father of our lives. We should be capable of running up to God and grabbing his hand at any point in our lives without questioning whether there would be food to eat that night or not. These children were not able to play the role as children, just like the others scattered across the globe. This is injustice. Children should not have to worry about basic needs, how are we to have faith like children when we have never been able to play the role of child? So this is where Gary took action five years ago. He began by buying them cloths and food. He took them to games, invested hours upon hours of his life feeding these kids with a positive role model. One day during the first year he was with them another man reveals himself to the family and begins assisting Gary in helping out the family. This man’s ways and motives were a mystery to Gary until today. While we were eating supper his brother Jonathon shares what Gary had feared was true for the past three years. This other man in these boys’ life is there because he is driven by sexual motives. He has paid Tony for the past five years to do these things. Tony is 16 now. He has told Gary about all the pictures of children this mysterious man’s computer a few years ago, and they had him investigated, but apparently nothing happened. This man continues to lure these vulnerable ones with money and it is absolutely sick. The pedophile had an apartment for the past five years right across the street from the high school, how convenient is that? So we’ve unveiled the monster and here is the problem. Tony’s head is so poisoned with what society deems is important that he compromises sound morals in order to feel included with the fast pace world around him, have you ever related to this feeling? Have you ever felt like morals could be thrown out of the door so that we could be more valuable in the eyes of the monster which deems us valueless? Gary has fear this conclusion for years now. He has inquired and pried into Tony endlessly but he never responded. Tonight as we were talking he told me that he doesn’t even know if he could stand to be in the same car as Tony, he feels like he’s wasted the past five years of his life serving as a mentor. This is where I interjected though. This is when faith must be our only crutch to stand on. This is when you know you believe that unseen forces are at work and that your efforts are never wasted. Paul woos us to feast our eyes upon the unseen in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. He concludes this chapter of assurance with an amazing charge, "Therefore we do not lose heart.... our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all". This is powerful. Even though Gary has seen everything but God glorified through this relationship, there is still great hope and purpose in his labor. How often do we get blinded from reality? How often are we lost in giving glory to other things, things that poison our hearts and minds? There is yet great hope for us all. I want anyone who has read this to the end to stop, sit and think now. Think about what is important in your life. What are things you do now that poison who you strive to be, what are things that promote and serve everything you know are wrong? What are these things??? Put yourself in Tony’s shoes now. Now ask yourself the same question. Why do I, a 16 year old guy who loves to play tennis and go to jack in the box, submit myself to an obese man and do horrible favors for him? Tony is a victim to evil. Why do innocent people suffer? Why does the Almighty Creator not interject his life-giving powers and protect the innocense of this world? I challenge you to answer this question for yourself. I have my answer. It is one that was beautifully crafted by the experiences of my life. But it is my answer and mine alone.


Revelation 21:1-6
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. 5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Forever Forward.
Ryan