PEOPLE! GOTTA LOVE'EM!

I don't know why God made me the way I am.  (I'm sure some of my close friends have asked Him that same question.)   But I have always been a people person.  I observe them, I'm curious about them, and I love to be with them. 

When I became a Christian, I still loved people BUT in a different way.  I know this sounds sorta religious but I began to try and see people as God saw them.  Not for what they could do for me, but as God's kids with the potential to love and be loved. (II Cor 5:16, "From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view...Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old has gone, the new has come.")

So as I pray for His kids around the world, I have several pictures that remind me to see people as God does.  I pull these pictures out as I pray for the world.  First is a picture of a young guy with spiked pink hair, tattoos, and piercing's, kneeling at a church pew praying.  (I can't find the picture since our move but I have it in my mind's eye.) It remains me that first impressions aren't always right.

Secondly, I use this picture of several Chinese kids to remind me how much of the world doesn't know about God yet.  I'm praying that the upcoming Olympics will provide a platform for the many Christians who visit China to make a difference. Linda and I visited China with Christian Missionary Fellowship and found the people very gracious and often willing to hear about God. These kids were giggling over the big, white guy, acting silly and taking their picture.  I wonder if they know the Father?

In 2005, I visited Nairobi, Kenya and the Kibera Slum which houses over 3,000,000 people.  I took this picture of this lil' boy sitting in the shade.  His big eyes staring up at me with little hope in them. He has AIDS -he broke my heart.  The picture reminds me how blessed I am and that I need to share those blessings.

People are God's highest creation.  GOTTA LOVE'EM! Why not take some time and pray for them today!

Concerned for the Lost,

bob