hope for the hopeless?

When I went back to Cincinnati for the Thanksgiving holiday, I had a great time. However, when I showed my younger cousin my blog she said, “It looks like all you do is travel around a lot”. Then I realized that most of my blogs … if not all have revolved around my travel to some place or another. Hence, the outcome was the façade that my whole life is just one big trip. Not so. Thus, although I am writing this blog after returning from yet another trip, I have decided to share more of my feelings about life and stuff. Is that alright.????

My thought for this entry is this: Have you ever looked into the eyes of someone and saw desperation? This weekend, I had the distinct opportunity to connect with a few people that I know and meet some new friends. The unfortunate common link between them all was the emptiness of an unfulfilled life. I don’t think that any of them know the Lord. At least not 3 of the four. The image that remains etched in my head from each of these 3 guys is the desire to know answers… I don’t know if I can accurately describe the look. For two of the guys, it was weariness from working for years and years and not having too much to show for it. A flat screen, a nice car, a well taken care of child and/or grandchild(ren); but a look of being lost and confused. These guys were saying, I’m at the end of my rope .. I know I need more but I don’t know where to turn or what to do. However I didn’t feel that I had the authority or the platform to speak into their lives. So, I listened. That’s all I could do. Each of them was defensive … in their own unique way.

It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. How do you respond to looking into a big, gaping hole of emptiness? Staring into a shell of a person, knowing that they need the Spirit to fill them. I guess the first step is to pray. I felt utterly hopeless because I didn’t have the direct answer. Yet… they didn’t ask any questions? This is the tension of ministering to people. Most people don’t eve realize that they have a problem.

Which leads me to one of the discussions that we had in our time here at the School of Ministry. There are green apples and red apples. Green apples are not ready to the hear the truth of the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ - whereas red apples are ripe to receive the gospel. Thus, do I pray for more red apples or an opportunity to help the green apples mature and open their eyes to the fulfilling truth? How do I pray?