Stop, so that you can look closer...

One of our security guards, Tom, has been in the hospital now for a few weeks because of an infection in his foot. His healing has been slowed down drastically because, as it turned out, he’s a diabetic and didn’t even know it. Just a few weeks prior to him getting sick, I was engaged in some passing banter with him near the kitchen water cooler. He told me about how tired he was from working sixteen hour days, but how necessary it was so that he could save some money. He wanted to buy a house, support his parents, but most of all, he wanted to get these goals into place so that he could leave for the Peace Corps. His face lit up when he talked about this and there was a fierceness in his eyes that stood out. His round, cherubic face was no longer passive – it was packed with an added ounce of strength. Every cell in his body bowed down to that will and passion in his heart. It came through in his face, the timber of his voice and in his gestures. I walked away, again amazed at the dreams that lie beneath the surface of our skin.

There is another security guard, an elderly gentleman, Wendell, who does the daytime watch. He greets everyone with the same warmth and good cheer. We found ourselves in the kitchen near the water cooler. He mentioned that Tom is doing well, and will return to work eventually.

“Could you please let Tom know that I have been praying for him?” I asked. Wendell smiled, the corners of his mouth pushed up his bristly mustache, and his bright eyes shone under the bill of his cap.

“You know, young lady, I am pleased to know you believe in the power of prayer. There is so much evidence of God’s good miracles and I cannot believe that people still don’t believe He’s good!”

A gentle bolt of power surged through me. There is power in that man! I could only try to keep up as he shared with me his passion for Jesus, his love for God’s Word. It was so sweet and so filling to me. You know someone really knows God when their first priority is to talk about His love for people. Wendell could not stop himself as he talked about how much God cares for us. Beneath all our flaws, all our mistakes, all our worries, all our riches and so-called successes – Jesus just loves humanity! But not just a sea of nameless faces, but you and me …

“Wow, Wendell! I think I just got my morning devotional right there!” I exclaimed.

He smiled and thanked me for my time.

I walked away, thinking about how much power, belief and goodness can lie in one person’s heart. And how if we don’t share our passions, not only is the world less for it because the world won’t benefit from it, but we are truly less because it is in sharing it that goodness itself could ever be made a reality.