A few weeks ago, I visited Leòn, Nicaragua in attempt to retreat, to get by myself with the Lord and learn a few things along the way.
It was about 8:00am on the 18th when I saw him. He was covered in fresh tattoos, sporting a spiked mohawk and a German accent. His name was Dennis, and he had just joined my table.
Well traveled, we sat and quickly introduced ourselves. It didn’t take long before I learned that we had more in common than breathing. Oh, it was much deeper than that.
Dennis is a teacher, he hiked El Camino de Santiago in Spain last year, he has a great passion for people with special needs, and likes to tell stories via video production. There we sat, two men from different sides of the earth with two completely different lives, yet our passions saw eye to eye. How could this be?
I could see he was frustrated, toiling inside. But as most strangers, he didn’t share why. Instead, we shared of our common experiences, passions, and connected there for a moment. We, then, shared our video productions and it all poured out on the table.
It was then that it struck me – Dennis had Kingdom smeared all over him and he didn’t even know it.
Sitting before me was a man who saw a need and was driven to meet it. Dennis was broken for people with special needs – for their dignity, identity, value, and purpose. He wanted them to belong, for them to be connected and cherished, loved just like anyone else. Dennis saw to the heart of their need and was using his talents to give them a voice.
All of this sounds so familiar doesn't it?
On the edge of himself, Dennis said, “After a year of sharing these stories and contacting over 45 different organizations, no one sees the value in these people with special needs… I guess I’m just wasting my time. I don’t think I have these talents and passions to waste a year of my life, but nothing is coming of it. I don’t know what the **** to do. Good news is that it’ll be over soon…”
Dennis needed to hear about the amount of God's grace over his life. We dug in a bit, and if I’m to be honest, I don’t even know what all I said. Encouraged and curious, afterwards, Dennis remarked that no one had ever said anything like that to him, and that he had never seen it that way. He had never been told that God (Jesus) had a love for Him quite like that. Dennis discovered that he, himself, had a place to belong, and saw evidence of it for what may have been the first time in his life. Speechless, Dennis was moved to a hopeful silence. He later thanked me three times before leaving for his next adventure.
Do you believe that all of God’s creation has an innumerable amount of grace over us? We all scream of His purpose (Colossians 1:16), and if we take a deeper look, we’ll see grace smothered on every heart, in every nook and cranny. We'll even begin to look at people differently. You may even begin to see from a thankful heart, understanding your very own need for grace.
All of creation holds an identity and purpose that humbly speaks of our Creator. The thing is, just like Dennis, many of us just don’t know it yet.
Take a little time to look deeper into your own life today, then give thanks, naming where you've seen the abundance of grace in your life. Then choose someone uncanny and take a few minutes to discover God’s grace over their life. You may just find out that you have more in common than you think…
