I grew up in a big city, in Los Angeles.
It gave me the opportunity to meet early on people
from different walks of life.
I had interactions and connections
with people that helped me learn about their lives
as they learned about my life.
I had an experience at a bus stop
where I was running late to work.
And, in my frustration, I turned around
and I noticed an older lady who was going
about digging in the trash.
Her hair was very damp.
She was missing a lot of teeth, but she smiled at me.
It made me forget that I was running late.
Who is going to help her?
Who is willing to give her something
to make her have a better day?
I don't know.
But in that moment, it made me realize that's me.
I know I've been in different phases of my life
where I've needed help and I've prayed for someone
to offer something in my life, mostly love or a sense
of belonging.
And that made me think about Jesus Christ
and how He loves me and how He does give me
a sense of belonging.
That motivated me to offer her my apple.
We started interacting, and I couldn't help but want
to offer her my whole lunch.
I would have offered her everything if I had even more.
I'll never have everything that I wish
I could have to offer someone.
But that is why Jesus Christ is the great Mediator,
because He can.
He can offer and duplicate what I can't by infinity.
When I think about Jesus Christ and how
He fed the 5,000 or the 4,000, it
wasn't about loaves and bread.
Of course, feeding them provided a very temporary nourishment.
But when you read carefully behind that,
it really is about His mercy.
It really is about His grace.
It really is about His love.
Those people, those individuals that He would help that were
considered the outcasts, the people who were
marginalized--which in today's world might be the refugee,
the immigrant--sometimes we see people different
because of their skin color, because they're from
a different religion.
Because of these experiences that I've had
and as I realized what God has done for me,
how could I not want to help someone out
of the love and the mercy and the grace that God has for me?