It's easy to miss treasure when we sit on piles of worldly trash

20 years old.  Biological parents said they didn't want anything to do with him.  His adopted parents said the same.  Brothers and sisters, 20 in number, are spread out in Philadelphia and have started making lives of their own.  Most are doing well, but Jimmy never could find his footing.  This tough, cruel world rolls over people with each turn and spits them out.  Jimmy is a product of being rolled on - but he's still alive.  He has no choice.  He has to keep on.  It doesn't help that he has a learning disability.  He has no money.  He showed up in the Southeast on a Greyhound bus.  A one-way ticket to what should be his own personal hell. 


He got off the bus in Columbia with a backpack.  His stomach rumbled but he had no possibility of stopping the hunger pains.  Not that first night, at least.  If there was ever a person to feel that God had forgotten about him, it would be Jimmy.  He sought shelter in his first night in a strange place.  He found an overpass and settled down, resting his head on his backpack.


The doctor said Jimmy wouldn't make it.  Not past the two hour mark.  Then the 24 hour mark.  Then the doctor extended Jimmy's lifespan to another few days or months.  I don't know what age that he found out that he shouldn't be alive, but he embraced it.  It's his story, he seems proud of it.  


Jimmy is in 5 points.  he's waiting on the street preachers to show up.  He has a Midtown sticker on a King James bible that sits on a bench.  He can't remember if he ate earlier in the day or last night.  When he's really hungry, he searches dumpsters behind restaurants.  He rides a bike from a thrift shop, it's a young boys bike much too small for him.  The front tire is completely bald and one of the pedals is missing.  He wants to get a chain and lock for it.  I don't think you could pay someone to take it.  It's his favorite possession, although I'm not sure he has anything else in his backpack other than a jacket and some smokes.  Although he needs glasses, Jimmy doesn't own a pair....and he's never worn contacts.  




Jimmy is thankful to be alive.  He connects with the few siblings that actually care about him via Facebook.  He claims to have a fiancee, also homeless, who he hasn't seen in two years.  Is this rock bottom or far below our thoughts of it?  No where else to go but drugs or crime.  Not Jimmy.  He is growing a relationship with Jesus.  He's reading through 1 Samuel right now.  He has to hold the bible about 6 inches from his face to read it.  That doesn't deter him.  He loves it.  He can't wait to go home one day and be with Christ.  But for now, Jimmy is helping hand out gospel tracks in 5 points.  He doesn't complain.  He doesn't pity himself.  He still laughs.  He still loves.  He knows he is a treasure to Jesus.  No situation can take that from him.  

I'm too busy for my saviour and creator of the universe, I'll give him a few minutes next week

Satan wins when we're busy.  I put off reading, prayer and ultimately focus.  Since work has gotten busier, I find myself content with not reading daily or often going days without a prayer that lasts more than a minute.  I don't put off work or sleep or TV though.  I just slide time with Jesus out of my life.  It's a serious struggle.  But I can't give in, I have to make time.  I have to stay close to him.  If I don't, I fall apart.  And when I fall apart, I feel farther from him. 

 I've been working on ceasing everything for a few minutes a day...sometimes longer.  Sometimes I play music, sometimes I light a candle.  And when I cease, I try to stop my mind from thinking about EVERYTHING, but HIM.  When I do this, it's awesome and usually a good transition to read or prepare my heart for a podcast sermon or reading.  The hard part is shutting down everything, stopping random thoughts takes patience and prayer.  He deserves my time, I have to stop fighting him for it.