Sea of Faces...

I was at WalMart tonight--just because I could be. And as I was meandering around through all those nifty, exciting little mazes erected by bored WalMart employees for the confusion of the average American customer, I confess that I was deeply fascinated by my fellow human beings...

Thea, I thought to myself, You have to admit that super markets and shopping malls are a brilliant concept--where else would one have the opportunity to see such a diverse group of humanity thrown together in one giant, hurried mass of intriguingly chaotic activity?

A big, burly black woman had parked her heavily-laden grocery cart in front of the banana stand, where she was deeply engrossed in searching for a perfect specimen of the banana variety. I wondered briefly if perhaps she were one of those open-minded individuals who kept a pet monkey at home--but then I took a good look at the gorgeous, curly-haired little person in the front of her cart as he determinedly kicked the side of the lobster tank with one foot just to perturb the amphibious occupants, and I had to admit the monkey theory was improbable.

Just to the left of this commanding dame and her young charge was a puffy little man with a round, white face. His stomach sagged in a way that was highly suggestive of too many jelly donuts, and his empty expression was nicely set off by strands of greasy gray hair which straggled across his forehead in unkempt wisps.

Over in the produce section, a group of Egyptian foreign exchange students were carrying on a lively debate in Arabic as they passed a green pepper curiously from one person to the next, cocking their heads thoughtfully as they attempted to discern exactly what type of tropical fruit this might be.

Everywhere I looked, there were people: big ones, little ones, happy ones, sad ones, skinny ones, fat ones. All of them had faces (what a relief, eh?); all of us were members of the same species, and yet, as I watched, I was struck by how very different each person was from the next. Every face tells a story that is constantly developing, made up of the fascinating minutiae of everyday lives, and every story is different.

The green-pepper-wielding Egyptians smiled and waved, and I waved back, marveling to myself at how much power is held in something as simple as a smile.

I started thinking about faces then...because some people have lovely faces, and some people...just have faces. And I think, deep down, that God probably did that to help us understand that it's not the face that's important...it's everything that's behind the face that really matters.

I left with a new appreciation for the toothless grin of the shriveled little greeter at the door...

Sometimes the lyrics of a song capture the cry of your heart better than you possibly could articulate it yourself...and Downhere has done a fantastic job of expressing both the hope, confusion, redemptive power, and overwhelming sense of inadequacy and insufficiency that are a part of the incredible privilege of walking with Jesus Christ. This song, "Here I Am," has blessed me so much during the past year:

Sometimes Your calling comes in dreams,
Sometimes it comes in the Spirit's breeze.
You reach for the deepest hope in me,
And call out for the things of eternity.

But I'm a man of dust and stains,
You move in me, so I can say:

Here I am. Lord, send me.
All of my life, I make an offering.
Here I am. Lord, send me.
Somehow my story is a part of Your plan,
Here I am.

When setbacks and failures, and upset plans
Test my faith and leave me with empty hands,
Are You not the closest when it's hardest to stand?
I know that You will finish what You began.

And these broken parts You will redeem
Become the song that I can sing:

Here I am. Lord, send me.
All of my life, I make an offering.
Here I am. Lord, send me.
Somehow my story is a part of Your plan,
Here I am.

Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness
And the fear that I'll fail You in the end...
In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces,
I can't put this together—but You can.

So here I am. Lord, send me!
All of my life, I make an offering.
Here I am. Lord, send me.
Somehow my story is a part of Your plan...
Here I am.

Here I Am, all my life an offering to You, to You...
Somehow my story is a part of Your plan—
Here I am.