Wyatt

Wyatt was in his late eighties when I stumbled across his path yesterday. Our team had ministry at a Senior Citizens center in Gainesville, Georgia for a few hours where some of the girls led finger-painting, some music. I looked around for a bit to make sure they had all gotten plugged in somewhere and there he was. Just staring from his rocking chair.

I headed in his direction and began to greet him by extending my hand as we exchanged names. He told me his was Wyatt and little did I know he would tell me this several times throughout our conversation due to the Alzheimer's he's been battling. He smiled and told me to grab a chair because we had a lot to talk about. It seemed like we had talked about everything; his family, growing up in church, both of our travels, his time in the army, his past job at a dry cleaner, and of course the "scandals" of the old folks home as he would call it. I laughed as he told me about Arthur stealing extra bread while the staff wasn't looking at meal times, Joyce being a loud mouth, and Martin's secret ability to fall asleep in the middle of a conversation. I'm afraid Martin's secret was out early when his book fell out of his hands within five minutes of picking it up.

Wyatt's stories were great but I found myself challenged throughout our conversation. It was hard to hear the familiar phrases leave his mouth because he had forgotten we had talked about the topic only fifteen minutes earlier. It was equally hard to tell him about myself a few times as well.

After an hour and a half had gone by, I began to pray for God to keep me alert. I needed patience and energy. The repetitiveness of hearing the stories over and over got hard. Then it hit me.

How many times does God tell us something only to repeat it not long after we heard it the first time? How much patience does He extend to me every day? As far as I know, my brain is functioning correctly yet I seem to "forget" the lessons the Lord has walked me through. The cool thing about God is that every day He reminds me of the love He has for me. It doesn't matter that I've walked through that with Him a hundred times already. He's patient enough and cares enough to share it one more time just so that I can grasp it.

As we got ready to leave I said goodbye to Wyatt. He thanked me for spending time with him and asked me to come back next week. Instead of being frustrated that we had already covered why I couldn't return then, I simply smiled and said, "Wyatt, I'm sure we'll meet again." He grabbed my hand and said, "I sure hope so."

Now, I may never see Wyatt again. He may not even remember me after that day. I do know that for a short period he was reminded that he was loved and worth the time of at least a conversation. What if we treated every conversation with that being the purpose?

Just Answer the Door

Have you ever met someone who is gifted at turning a challenging day into a day that exceeds all expectations? Someone who drops what they’re doing in order to pour into you. The kind of person who looks at you and says, “you CAN do this.” A person who encourages you to see the world because they want you to experience all of the things they have. A person who wants to see you grow in who you are as a child of God. A person who loves well because it’s an overflow of Christ’s love in their own life.

I spent the past week in Gainesville, Georgia experiencing all of those things. I showed up with a cry for help and without even knowing what they were doing, I was poured into by some amazing people. The last three months were very hard for me. I felt like I had lost my purpose maybe even my identity. I was no longer a Racer or a world traveler. I didn’t spend hours praying over people or listening to stories of women who were concerned about whether they’ve passed HIV on to their child. I wasn’t asked to take care of babies, prepare sermons, or teach anymore. I now woke up miserably lost and confused. I couldn’t find the confidence and boldness that I grew in on the Race. Life was just, well boring to be honest.

I was more focused on the community that I craved but couldn’t find. I wanted so badly to be back on the race with my newfound family. I talked to a friend about this and after several questions to better understand the situation he told me to go deeper with the Lord and pray harder to find what love means. To understand the love talked about in 1 Corinthians 13. He suggested I apply it to my team and also my family. Most importantly, I needed to relate it to how Jesus loves me. So, for the last week that’s what I’ve done. And it has been a beautiful thing. I’ve been able to pour into other people because of the new way I am being filled up. Because someone took the time to reflect Jesus, I can now do the same for my team and those around me. I challenge you to do that. Listen for the people knocking for help. Don’t become so focused on what you are lacking that you don’t hear the cry of the people around you. Be the person who changes environments and loves well. The world needs more people like that.