The beauty of the Lord is everywhere! It is easy to see His beauty in things we already consider beautiful such as nature. The beauty of the Lord can also be found in the broken. It is hard for us to see beauty in the broken and it takes a change of mind to see it. There is a world full of broken people in need of someone to love them and to call them beautiful. I was once broken and He called me beautiful. I want to spend my life introducing broken people to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
God has used my neighborhood that I grew up in to show me beauty in the broken. When I was young my parents felt that God was calling them to plant a church in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. We were living in a nice house in the suburbs and both of my parents worked full time. They gave it up to come to Kensington. Up until the 1980’s, Kensington was a great place to live. It was where all the textile mills were locat
ed and people worked in them and lived in the neighborhood. It was a place where each neighbor watched the other’s back. There is a book called Voices of Kensington by Jean Seder that tells stories of Kensington back in the day. In the 1980’s things started going downhill. The mills started to close and the good people started to move away and shady people started to move in. By the 1990’s it was a horrible neighborhood to live in. There was and still are gangs, drugs, violence, and so much more on every corner. Kids run around the streets and get into trouble and their parents do not care. There is beauty found in this neighborhood if you change your eyes to see it.
There is a man named George and I can see the beauty in him. He is mentally challenged and not many people can see him as beautiful. George started coming to our church about two years ago. He would not talk; we didn’t think that he could. He would come to church and Sunday school. Finally he trusted us enough to start talking. Over time he received Christ as his Savior. He began to show up earlier on Sunday mornings to see where he could help. He became regular at setting up the tables and chairs for breakfast. One Sunday he showed up with his arm in a sling. The week before on his way home from church, a few boys saw George as a target and mugged him. George wanted to become a member of Cornerstone. He is now attending membership classes. Jack works with him so he understands the classes. A few weeks ago he decided he needed to get baptized. Last Sunday he took the big dip and Jack baptized him. When he was asked if he believed that Jesus died for his sins and rose from the dead for him, George waited for a second then responded with a with a resounding “Yes!”. People began to clap and cheer. He is a huge encouragement to the church and he does not even say much. He spends most of his days walking up and down Frankford Avenue. He spends a good amount of time at the thrift store that our church has started. Any time the church doors are open, he comes. George is beautiful.
There are many kids who are also very beautiful. Their parents do not care for them very well and many of the older siblings are left to care for the younger ones. They have very hard lives and there is no escape from it. It is important for them know that they are beautiful when they are young so that they will not have as many issues in life. They have a Savior in heaven that created them and is their heavenly Father and they are also quite beautiful.
God has used this neighborhood and the people that are in it to prepare me for what He wants me to do with my life. As I am preparing to go to Thailand I am preparing my heart to minister but I am also preparing my eyes to see the beauty in the broken there. It all comes back to the fact that there is a world full of broken people in need of a Savior to came and call them beautiful.
