It's Amazing What You See

2 Corinthians 4:18
So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

Revelation 1:7
Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him— even those who pierced him. And all the nations of the world will mourn for him. Yes! Amen!

Luke 24:39
Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.”

Mark 8:33
Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

So the other day I decided to get up really early (5:15am) and get dressed and take the first bus into downtown. I wanted to see what the attitudes were of those on the bus on their way to work. I was pleasantly surprised at the gratitude and joy that was present. Next week I plan to tell you more about that, but this week I want to share something else.

It was a Friday and I was simply taking some time to be by myself and decided to walk around downtown with a specific mission. I was looking for something. See, I think it is always amazing what you see when you are looking for it. So instead of just walking around town, I wanted to look for something specifically and I chose to look for empty chairs. That's right, empty chairs. "Why empty chairs?" you ask. Well, because empty chairs are often discarded and set off the beaten path. I took pictures of all kinds of chairs. They were all different, and were all in different stages of their lives. Some were new looking and others rusty and broken. Some were dirty from lack of use and others were clearly used and cleaned daily. It actually reminded me of people in life. We were all created for the same purpose, and all of us, on our journey, have been treated differently and are at different stages in our lives, but still possess the same purpose.

As I took pictures and allowed my random thoughts to marinate on this analogy, I began to get excited about this city. My mind began to race, and this desire to help the people of this city rediscover their purpose became like a raging fire. I wanted to find people that had been broken and tossed to the side and help restore them so they could once again do what they were created for.

The verses I put at the top help us remember to see the right things. It is so easy for us to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life on the busy streets and walk right past those that are discarded and broken. This begins by fixing our gaze on the things of Heaven and then looking for what our Heavenly Father wants us to see.

Pray for us as we are here in New Orleans and are trying to fix our gaze on Christ and trying to be open to seeing what God wants us to be doing here. Take some time in the next week or two and just walk around your town and take pictures of one thing and see how many of that thing you see. Remember, it is amazing the things you see when you are looking for them.

Enjoy some of my pictures of the chairs I found.