My Rejected Friend.

A couple of days ago I was sitting in a meeting at a coffee shop drinking some tea. A disheveled man walks in soaking wet from the pouring rain outside. He shuffled over gingerly to my table and approached me and my friends asking if we could help him get something to eat.

Before I could respond one of the workers at the coffee shop said "Hey man, you can't be in here. You have to go." So as the man began to leave I got up and followed him to the door and said "Come on man, I'll walk with you to go get some food." The moment we walked into the restaurant one of the workers looked at him and instantly said "Hey, you know that you can't be in here, you have to go." To which the man pointed at me and replied "But he's buying me food." Then they let us stay.

That man I was with seemed to have a pretty negative reputation around that part of town. The workers who told him to leave seemed to know his face and his name. It seemed to me that whatever he had done in the past was enough to make him not wanted at these establishments.

I'm not telling this story because I want you to focus on my actions, the focus of this story is the man I was with.  In those moments spent with him I felt the pain of a life rejected, A life tossed aside. I felt for a brief instance what it was like to go around and not be wanted wherever you were. And it hurt a lot.

I dont know what this guy did and I'm sure these workers had a good reason for not wanting him around, but I couldnt help but think to myself how opposite this was of the love of God. I couldnt help but think of the countless times I have done something that could have made God ashamed of me or could have made him not want me around anymore. I had no choice but to remember that countless times that God has shown me grace for my humanity and inability to be the person I should be.

Quite frankly, I have not been the person I should be lately. I feel overwhelmed and I feel a distinct inability to sort out the mess going on in my own head. I feel incapable of setting aside my emotions and focusing on God and the people around me. I've been trapped in my own mind and the fruit of it has been destruction, or even worse, a lack of action.

Not having an earthly father has been devastating to me. But God showed me a picture a few nights ago of myself as a little boy being held by my father. All of my senses were engaged in that moment, as my father drifted away and was replaced in the picture by Jesus.

I felt a safety and security for that brief moment like never before. And I believe it was God reminding me that he is the key to the safety & security I so desperately seek.

That man I was with was turned away everywhere we went. He literally seemed to have no place of belonging. Too often in my life I have been able to relate to that feeling. But I know that we serve a God who is more than capable of redeeming broken situations, and who sticks it out with us and never turns us away no matter how much we may deserve it sometimes.

When all we feel is lost and alone, abandoned & rejected, may we not forget our God, who is our rock & fortress.