Blog a thon day 14 - keeping an eye out

Today I was riding on the Metro and I was struck how many people are basically oblivious to everything around them. This is why some of the pickpockets are so successful. People are just enduring the ride until they get home. I on the other hand like looking around checking out people’s expressions and dress. Some look blank, some look happy, and some look sad. They come in all ages. The other day I watched a brother and sister interacting, it was fun. The older sister kept unzipping her brother’s jacket and he kept zipping it up. There was no anger, just a game they were playing. But that is not my point. My point comes back to the level of awareness that people live in. I remember my OIC giving a lecture about this. He had these 5 different levels from level one which is oblivion to level five, feeling completely threatened. I kind of scoffed at it, but now I can see application. I purposely try to be paying attention to what is going around me and where my wallet is and such. I try to hold my backpack in my right hand, resting against my wallet in my front pocket. It makes it kind of hard to pickpockets to get your wallet when you are touching it.

I also pay attention to the people around me. I have learned to spot pick pockets by the way they look at others. Some travel alone and try to play that they not paying attention, but their eyes tell you another story. Other times they work in teams of two or more. I remember being buffed about by three of them when I was getting on to a marshrouteka. They acted like they had lost their balance, but I knew immediately what would going on. I’m not invulnerable, I just pay attention.

But this led me to thinking about this from a spiritual perspective. Am I watching to see what God would have me see? Will I see the babushka who is crying because she doesn’t know how she is going to pay the bills? Will I see the young person who is hurting because their home life is a wreck? Will I see a brother or sister in the Lord and rejoice with them? In Ephesians Paul tells us that we are God’s workmanship, made for good works. I read that so say that since He redeemed me, part of my job is to do good works; good works My Lord has prepared in advance for me to do, but how can I see these opportunities if my spiritual eyes are not looking for them?

I think I miss some opportunities because I am so bent on where I am going. I am going to the store or I am off to work or I am returning home. If I would slow down for a minute and give my spiritual eyes a chance, I bet the spirit would tell me a thing or to. Now I always seem to gravitate to the idea of giving. In fact the Lord stopped me on a bridge the other day to talk to me about that. I think I may have written about it earlier, but the opportunities that God has provided for me are there. I just need to have eyes to see and ears to hear. God cares about people. God wants us to care about them too. Yes we should love our family and friends, but shoot even non-Christians do that. Jesus says we are to love those who are unlovely. I am not sure how good I am at that, but I am willing to learn. I have been noticing a lot more of them around me. I pray and desire that my language skills would be up to sharing the Good news with them. That is in fact one of my weekly lessons. Pray with me that I would become proficient enough to share to love of God with these hurting people. Pray that I would have the courage to reach out to people who might be dirty and smelly, drunk and angry. Pray that I would be God’s light in this dark dark world.

I also would challenge you. How is your spiritual vision? Do you see bad people who deserve their plight or do you see broken people crushed by the hardness and hurtfulness of this world? If you see the first and not the latter, then I suggest you ask God to adjust your prescription and help you to see people the way He sees them. We are told that Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him. That joy was the thought of making a way to save all the broken and hurting sinners of the world, because He knows how much the Father loves us.

In His Grace,

Alan