Saturday, March 1, 2008

How Will They Know Series

 

Matthew 10:9 “Jesus went on and saw Matthew sitting in the tax collector’s booth.   “Follow me,” he told him.”

 

Taking a Chance on People

 

My daughter Caroline is finishing her Masters in Counseling and is working for the Mobile Area Association for Retarded Citizens.  Her task at work is to find employment in the community for people with disabilities.  She often talks to me about acclimating people in their jobs. She works with each of them for a couple of weeks on the job site.   Caroline helps them to adjust to the stress of the new job and a variety of related matters so that each person can be successful.  

 

Caroline told me recently about Susie, a young woman who is 19 years old.  She is 4 feet five in height and weighs about 80 pounds and looks as though she is 12 years old.   Caroline felt that it would be an impossible task to find her a job.   My daughter said when she first saw her, “There is no way this young woman is going to find a job.”    Caroline wanted to help her because the young woman truly wanted to work and she saw the potential in her desire to help people and her friendly demeanor.   Caroline prayed about the situation.  

 

After attending a conference Caroline learned that a drug store chain was willing to take a leap of faith and hire people with disabilities.   They hired Susie as a greeter.   She was very eager to learn and loved meeting all the new customers at the store.  She quickly learned the location of everything in the store so she could assist the customers.   She distributed sales flyers to adults and coloring books and balloons to the children, which was her favorite part of the job.  

 

Jesus constantly invested in unlikely people.  He invested in Simon Peter who was flamboyant, impulsive, and spoke often before he thought.   Jesus invested in James and John who were known as Sons of Thunder because they would quickly lose their temper.   He invested in Andrew who was shy.   Even though Matthew was a tax collector and was hated by most of the people, Jesus saw potential in him.  

 

When we look in our own soul and we think of the mistakes and sins we have made, we can be grateful that our Lord Jesus Christ sees potential in us.   I am very grateful He saw something in me.   I also appreciate how others have seen potential in me and made personal commitments toward my successes. 

 

We too, can believe in people and give them opportunities.   We can look at others with the eyes of Jesus, invest ourselves in them, and believe the best.  

 

Caroline recently saw Susie on the job after she had been working several months and asked her how work was going.  Susie’s face lit up and she said, “Work was fun!”   

 

Prayer:

Dear God, help me to believe and have confidence in others even if they may seem unlikely.   Amen.

 

 

I look forward to seeing you in church tomorrow.