Dinner with Jesus

Last Thursday we had our usual dinner at our house for youth.  This week, in addition to our middle school gals, we had two other gals...one who is 15 and has been prostituting for the last two years and another who has been in and out of our juvenile detention facility quite a bit. It was the first time that either gal had been to our house and they are kids that our ministry have been pursuing for years...and they were in our dining room!  

There is something powerful about sharing a meal with others in your home.  It is amazing how at home these kid have felt and how they seem to be able to be themselves.  There is a deeper trust that is built and walls break down. Jesus knew what he was doing when he ate with "sinners."

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"  On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  (Matthew 9:10-13)

Photo Shoot With Thursday Discipleship Gals

Focused

I remember back in November when I started  giving rides to “Trianna” and her friends weekly to SOZO.  We built a relationship and she began to trust me and open up about her life.  Then one night, I got to pray with her as she accepted Jesus.  Later that night, when I was driving her home, she said, “well, I guess you are my mentor, and I was wondering if we could hang out sometime.”   She stole my line!  I was getting ready to ask her, but she did not find it necessary to wait for my invitation of mentorship! 

Since that day, she has been my faithful car buddy weekly to SOZO, we have frequented several milkshake establishments together and she has been a regular to our Thursday night dinner at our home for middle school girls.  Trianna is marked by leadership, a mother’s heart, grace, passion, love, service, faith and perseverance.  I often marvel at how this 13 year old could be flourishing as much as she is with all that she has experienced.  

Trianna, like any of us, so longs to be known and loved.  She recently shared with me a poem she had written, matter-of-factly sharing some of the pains of her heart.  With all that swirls around her in life, she understands the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness in a way that challenges me.  She has rarely shared a difficult thing that is going on without communicating her trust in who the Lord is and how He is meeting her in her prayers.  

God is God...faithful, good, trustworthy...regardless of what circumstance is blaring in Trianna’s life (or in my life).  As I continue to grow in relationship with her and other youth--all who have stories that I can hardly fathom--I have been driven to the to the Word of God to tighten my grip on the rock that cannot be shaken, Jesus Christ. 

So often I find myself focused on my circumstances.  As I look at them, I am filled with emotions (fear, anger, hopelessness...), expect disappointment and often imagine the worst possible outcome.  Yet when I am fixed on who God is, I see truth and am filled with hope, knowing He reigns over everything...period.

I lift my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven. (Psalm 123:1)  He is our living hope,  and there is true fruit in allowing Him to reign at the center of our thoughts instead of our circumstances.  Trianna is living, thriving evidence of this reality.