People In My Life

People: Sometimes frustrating creatures, but fascinating all the same.

There is a young woman in the neighbourhood around the church who intrigues me. Every day as I walk to work, she is out walking too. When I go home at night, she is out walking. I've seen her on the street at other times during the day when I've had occasion to leave the office. She has Down's Syndrome. Her clothes are neat and clean. She is polite, speaks, and smiles at me when we pass each other. I have never seen her come out of any of the homes in the neighbourhood though I assume she lives somewhere close by. There are times when I find her walking and conversing with other people. She appears to be well-known and obviously liked.

But why does she walk all day? Who looks after her? Does she live alone and look after herself (she seems to be quite capable) or does someone shove her out the door in the morning and tell her not to come back until later?

Then there is a man I have never met from whom I received a lovely letter today. He's a brother from Colombia, the voice heard on the CD recording of all the devotionals from my book. He apologized that it had taken so long to get the CD done. Since I was just amazed to even get the book published, let alone a CD produced for use on online radio in Colombia, I don't think he owes me any apologies. But there were two other things that stood out from the letter. He said that he asks himself how the Lord is going to use the CD, whose lives will be changed, who will be called into the Kingdom, what doors will open. He looks forward to discovering, with time, the answers to those questions.

Then he thanked me for the opportunity to do the recording (It's not me he should thank since I never thought of the idea in the first place!) because it has been, to quote him "the most edifying recording I have ever done. If we are going to talk about people and changed hearts, I include myself in that group."

I feel awkward writing this because the glory belongs to God but I do so because I am mentally comparing Efraín and the girl who walks the streets. One is blessed by exposure to God's Word and the other, well, I don't know what exposure she has ever had, or how that exposure should come. Certainly a woman who walks the streets needs a companion to walk with her. And what better companion than the Lord.

Our lives are touched by so many people. Each one is different from the other. But in one thing at least they are all the same, they all need to know the Lord in that sweet, intimate relationship that goes beyond any other.

The challenge remains: How?