So, God ambushed me today.  Completely and totally blindsided me.

I started the day with some time in the bible, and ended up reading Deut 6 (long story how I got there, because I know, who reads Deut?) and was struck with the majesty and complete holiness of God.  Back to my day.  Breakfast.  Work.  Then I was off to run a couple of errands.

First, as I was driving, I was reminded of my trip to Africa and the people I met.  One in particular.  Julius is his name.  One of the most engaging, cheerful, and simply smart young men I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  He lights up a room when he comes in.  He wants to be an engineer.  He was working as the night receptionist at the hotel/hostel I stayed in with a team from Austin.  It turns out that he had no money to pay for college, so he was working and saving up to take a class or two.  His dad had offered to sell one the families 5 acres of land (that they farm to live on) in order to pay for the first year of his school.  That’s a sacrificial love I struggle to even understand.  Julius told his father no, knowing the implications of selling the land would be far reaching and eventually devastating to his family.  In the midst of this, God came through for Julius in an amazing way.  One of the men on our trip quietly and with no fanfare stepped up and is paying for Julius to go to college.  He’s more than halfway finished.  Yea God.  After that, I spent some time thinking about the families living on dirt floors, the babies suffering from malnutrition, the sheer number of people literally on the edge of starvation.  My last thought was of the girls I met in the small villages of Uganda, most were around 10 years old, and every day they would walk to get water, and carry it back on their head.  Some of them walked 3 miles.  Each way.  And the way back was carrying water.

But that wasn’t enough to get through to me.  I dropped off my tax info so my accountant can file my taxes, and as I walked back to my truck, I saw an older lady holding hands and walking with her son.  Who had Downs.  He was smiling, and I watched his mom open the car door for him, help him in, fasten his seat belt, and close his door.  That did it.  Tears started flowing in the parking lot.  All I could think about was the hopes and dreams that mom must have had for her son.  And how hard her life has been taking care of a child in an adult body.  I have no idea of the joys she has had, but I know she has.  The simple beauty of a son who lives his live with a child like faith.  The joy in seeing your son love people well, and always believe the best in others.  With a broken heart, I wept all the way to my truck, and sat there silently crying while watching what was a daily event in her life happen in front of me.

At that moment, God revealed some of His heart to me.  And some of that sweet precious mom’s heart as well.  The heart that loves, suffers, endures, treasures small victories,  the heart that has to cry out “why” to the Lord.  And it crushed me.  I was humbled by my small and petty complaints.  Broken by how hard I make my road seem in this life, when in reality, my road is embarrassingly soft and easy.

So for today I am broken.  May God break you as well.  May we all see with His eyes, not ours.

Grace and Peace