I grew up in a big
city, in Los Angeles. It gave me the opportunity
to meet early on people from different walks of life. I had interactions
and connections with people that helped
me learn about their lives as they learned about my life. I had an experience
at a bus stop where I was running
late to work. And, in my frustration,
I turned around and I noticed an older
lady who was going about digging in the trash. Her hair was very damp. She was missing a lot of
teeth, but she smiled at me. It made me forget that
I was running late. Who is going to help her? Who is willing to
give her something to make her have a better day? I don't know. But in that moment, it
made me realize that's me. I know I've been in
different phases of my life where I've needed help and
I've prayed for someone to offer something in my
life, mostly love or a sense of belonging. And that made me think
about Jesus Christ and how He loves me
and how He does give me a sense of belonging. That motivated me to
offer her my apple. We started interacting, and
I couldn't help but want to offer her my whole lunch. I would have offered her
everything if I had even more. I'll never have
everything that I wish I could have to offer someone. But that is why Jesus Christ
is the great Mediator, because He can. He can offer and duplicate
what I can't by infinity. When I think about
Jesus Christ and how He fed the 5,000
or the 4,000, it wasn't about loaves and bread. Of course, feeding them provided
a very temporary nourishment. But when you read
carefully behind that, it really is about His mercy. It really is about His grace. It really is about His love. Those people, those individuals
that He would help that were considered the outcasts,
the people who were marginalized--which in today's
world might be the refugee, the immigrant--sometimes
we see people different because of their skin
color, because they're from a different religion. Because of these
experiences that I've had and as I realized what
God has done for me, how could I not want
to help someone out of the love and the mercy and
the grace that God has for me?