Discipleship Thoughts On Transformation

A couple of weeks ago I had coffee with an old friend who has been ravaged by alcoholism. This disheveled man is someone I have known for many years. While making sure he had a little food and was able to stay warm, he introduced me to some of his friends which included several men and a couple of women, all the kind of folks that are typically to be feared. Do you know what they told me? They told they called my friend, “Pastor Jimmy.” They said he always offered them a word of hope and encouragement. One of them told me that Jimmy had an extra sweatshirt and gave it to him because it was cold. One told me that Jimmy lead AA meetings and Bible studies at the local county jail when he was incarcerated. It was clear that they loved this man who seems so very far from what I think a disciple of Jesus should be like. God was using this man to touch their lives. I realized that I had been deeply touched by him as well.

I started thinking as I was heading back to write this that the people that the Lord has used to transform my life and inspire me to want to be like Jesus have been those I wasn’t expecting. Although I have had some great educators who taught me so much, it was the people who taught me, what I call, applied theology. Each taught me lessons in loving. Few had anything that could be used by the churches I was serving. All demanded time and a price from me. Eventually, I learned that it was in the poor, the disadvantaged, the sick, those with disabilities, those who have been in prison and those that I think, by the world’s standards, and simply not cool, were in reality my greatest teachers. Among my hall of fame teachers are; Robert Yerka (severe cerebral palsy); Olaf Snyder (who needed to be lifted out of bed while dying), and Benjamin Desoto (a three strikes felon from the streets of San Jose).

I realized a few years ago that God places “special people” to teach us about His ways of love and compassion. These people force us to take faith lessons from the cognitive and make them practical and real. So here is my thought for discipleship this week… What would happen if every person to whom we have a ministry was challenged to always have a “special person” in his or her life? These are people, who can give us nothing but will teach us everything about the way of Jesus.

I think that Mother Theresa understood this principle as did Henry Nouwen, who both gave their lives away to follow the Lord. If we find meaning in what many call “ministry to the least” the result is powerful life transformation. In this season of expectation of the coming of the Lord, perhaps we would do well to look for Him among the least.