I met a guy during my time in Fairhope, Alabama named Toast. Well his name was actually David, but he wore a shirt everyday that just said Toast on it… So that’s all I knew him as. Toast was the complete opposite of me. And if I would have encountered him a few years earlier in my life… I’m sure I would have never talked to him.
I’m sure glad I did. Toast is still one of my greatest friends!
I began to realize that Toast was gifted musically. So I invested in him by giving him a brand new guitar. And to this day… You can find him leading worship around the Mobile area. He was a diamond in the rough.
And then there is Edwin. A hard nosed ex-Army Ranger who suffers from PTSD. Edwin grew up in the church that I now Pastor. He had just moved back in the area and decided to come to church with his parents. When I met him in the lobby he seemed uninterested in anything to do with church. But he did love to serve!
I saw something bigger in Edwin than he saw in himself. I saw God using him to serve the people in our church in ways that most churches couldn’t imagine.
So I offered him a job! He wasn’t even a Christ follower!
But I knew God wanted to do something in Edwin. And over the course of the past 2 years… God has done incredible things in Edwin… Including a real relationship with Christ.
I’m so glad I took a chance on Edwin!
Too many times in our lives…we look at people, but we don’t see them!
We look at people and make a quick judgement about them without taking the time to really get to know them. We dismiss people as weird or fake or rude without understanding their background or knowing their story.
Most of the time we are completely wrong about the people we judge! And if you stop long enough to get to know someone…you’ll see they have infinite value!
A few years ago I was watching a show on National Geographic about people called “Sight Holders.” Sight Holders are people who can look into a nasty ugly rock.. And see the diamond that lays inside that rock. They can tell you with great accuracy how much that diamond is worth.
But to you and me… It just looks like an ugly rock!
The cool thing about Sight Holders… You can’t just become one. It is something that is passed down from the Father. They learn how to see the beauty and value of something ridged, ugly, and dirty from their Father.
Sound familiar, Christians?
That is our job in life. To see the beauty and value of those around us that others have tought were worth nothing. To love those people who seem unlovable. To hear the stories of those who we would typically just pass by.
And who knows… When you stop and SEE people… You just may become great friends.
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