Lost & Found

“H” comes from a country in Asia, and she is interning with Global City Mission from a university in Texas.  Her faith is young, and she is learning to share it on the streets of New York City.  Below is some of her reflections from one encounter in particular.    

This world is crazy. No need to take a minute to find out.

So many frustrations. Family abandons, friends betray, work layoffs, relationships breakup, unresistant addiction. We are weak and powerless when all those things happened. We get frustrated, disappointed, hurt, and desperate. We complain, we blame others and ourselves. Why? Why I am such a loser? Why do they never understand me? Why is this world is so unfair? Why?

Well, because this world is not perfect. No body is perfect as long as we are still living in the flesh. Even though we are aware of this point, we still try to convince ourselves that there must be something we can do to change it, subconsciously.  But we can’t count on ourselves or others for such a radical change.  

Only God is in charge.

I told “A” all the above when I sat down with him in a random street somewhere in Queens. Silence, quite a silence lingered. I wondered if it was just his shyness, but there was a peace resting in my heart.  

” Wow”, He finally made a sound. “This is really…. I mean…”

”A relief, right?” I finished the sentence for him

” Yeah, I think.”  A smile bloomed on his face.

Gift, a free gift, directly from God. You don’t have to do anything to earn it. The only thing you need to do is accept it. You can be saved.  The Lord will keep you.

You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

As he listens, “A” nods. He has so much going on in his life. So lost.  Homeless. Addicted.  However, he is not a dumb guy. He thinks. He has a genuine and tender heart.

” I don’t know. Sometimes I feel that Christians are doing something that isn’t nice.”

I was ready for this. Not everybody is lucky enough like me to have always been taken care of by good people who truly know the Lord. I know what he is talking about. People spin the gospel in a twisted way. Churches doing some ridiculous things tangled in corruption. Judgment of people’s race, attire, and the way of worship, endless arguments on debatable matters. For the people from outside, it is really unnecessary and ugly.  It erodes trust in the church. 

But I want to say to “A” that the message is always there, never changed. The messengers are not the Savior, only Christ and his words really truly matter. It is sad that people have made you feel so uncomfortable. But we will never stop doing what we shouldn’t because we are human beings. There is nothing we can do to make a change. What we should do is focus on the Good News. Believe that God loves us and Christ’s body and blood washed away our sins.

Trust God. Follow the Christ. Accept his words.

That is it. Period.