Seven years ago someone asked me what I wanted to do with my life. Seven years ago I had a vision.
I wanted to open up a youth center. A safe place where children could come. Where food was served and music was played and they were taught about Jesus. I wanted to meet needs - physical and spiritual. Redemption Block.
A few years ago, this vision arose in my heart again when I met five little black boys who were running up and down Maxwell Street at midnight. Some of them lived on the east end. Some of them were refugees from Africa. All of them were bored and up to no good.
Tell me something. When was the last time one of your dreams came true? The last time you asked for something and it was given to you? The desires of your heart were granted? Stop for a minute. Take a look at your life. My guess is you have what you've asked for.
My guess is we have what we've asked for. And we just fail to see it.
On Friday night I carried ten pizzas into a little, while building. Within a matter of minutes, the building and the parking lot were full of children. They had come to eat. To play games. To be loved on. In us, they'd found safety. Positive attention and affection. We laughed with them and mourned the pain of new braces. We played checkers and musical chairs and taught them how to follow rules. Our evening was blessed by a rainbow, which arched from one end of the neighborhood to the other.
I called it a promise.
Tonight, I walked into the same little, white building with more food. We held children tight in our arms and taught women about Jesus. We knew each other's names and brought what we could to the table. But what they taught me was far more valuable. For they taught me...
about how God keeps His promises.
Tonight, I gathered up my books and empty dishes and walked out of the building with my mother. The very first person I'd ever shared my dream with seven years ago. As I shut the door to my car and turned the key in the ignition, I realized my dream had come true.
"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine..."
He answers our prayers. He grants us the desires of our hearts. Giving us bread, not rocks. Fish, not snakes. Knocking, He answers.
It just may not look like we think it will.
It may just catch us by surprise.
"As you wish," I heard Him whisper tonight as child after child talked to me with cookie stuffed in their mouth.
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