Standing Naked in the Mirror

My first visit to Romania had a profound effect on me. Our group came from Germany, the United States, Great Britain and South Africa. It was culture shock for all of us.


We saw beggars and street people and we saw poverty in a way I never dreamed of growing up in South Carolina.

This is where I learned about non-people. These are people who have no identification papers which means they cannot go to school, they cannot hold a real job, and they have no nationality. Without these papers they are a non-person.


Our orientation lecture warned us against giving money or anything to the beggars. We were warned they would surround us or try to pickpocket us or steal from us. The warning scared us to the point of us against them.


One lady with a terribly soft heart looking at these poor children could not follow the guidance to the letter so she gave them chewing gum. We watched the children walk way chewing this gum like… well… children. At that point, we saw them not as the enemy trying to steal from us or take advantage of us but as CHILDREN. We suddenly remembered why we came to Romania. I owe Sylvia Davenport more than anyone will ever know. That one act of kindness,  changed the Mission trip. 


At the end of that Mission trip and each Mission trip since I have done the standing naked in the mirror speech.

I was allowed to speak at a Youth Camp that I had attended for years. I also had the honor of being the final speaker one hour before we headed home. Over the years I watched some really great speakers try to make that one last point. The kids never really get their minds around one last sermon.  I decided to end the camp with "Standing Naked in the Mirror", this is how it goes.


I think about the street children of Bucharest, Romania. Street children are born without papers. This means they are children without an education, without a country, and in many ways without hope. So here is what I want you to do…


Close your eyes... imagine you are standing naked in a mirror.


Take away all your possessions; your computer, your cell phone, your iPods, your TVs, and your clothes. Now take away your education… take away your citizenship… take away your future plans… take away your parents and all of their possessions, education, and security. Take everything away your have earned or acquired…


Tell me what do you see standing in the mirror…


Can I tell you how many times I have heard in a low sad voice, “nothing”. This is such a sad answer.  Almost always it is one of the most popular of the kids but who knows how many are saying the same thing in their head. It is sad that these people see this as who they are. They are what they own or where they are from, or what they know, or what they hope their future will be.


This is the the good news! That person standing in the mirror with all that stripped away is the person God sent His Son to die for. Jesus did not come for our clothes or our possessions or our education or our nationality or our future plans, He came for that NAKED person standing in that mirror. He loves us so much He sent Jesus to die for us so He could spend eternity with us. That is what all of us are worth to GOD, to Yahweh, to the Creator of the Universe.


He did all of this for that NAKED person standing in that mirror.

Still Small Voice

Adolescent was hard… My whole life and my self-worth revolved around… well… girls. During a particularly hard period, I was having problems with my girlfriend. She was making me crazy and I probably was not enriching her life either. One Sunday evening I took a very hard blow to my ego. At this time I am five foot six inches tall and weighed 100 lbs (wet) so ego blows were devastating. I had all I could take and decided to commit suicide. I had the shotgun in the car but really wanted one last shot (no puns intended). I drove to church to talk to my youth leader, I told him everything. His name was Jimmy Watson and he was a good man who did his best with a bunch of 1970s sex, drugs and rock and roll Youth. Jimmy did all the correct things by the book, God loves you, Jesus loves you, it’s a sin, Bible verse, platitude, Bible verse, platitude, Bible verse… All the things they teach you in Bible College. Then he made a statement… “God must have something really special planned for you or the devil would not be trying so hard to kill you.” My heart heard this message as it was straight from God.

It is funny from that Sunday evening over 35 years ago those words come back to me in the strangest times. Standing a field in Romania where we are digging a garden for a girl’s home, speaking at a Youth Conference in Switzerland, standing on the top of Skellig Island in Ireland, looking at my friends on Facebook and seeing the Youth I have worked with over the years (many of whom are now grown with families), watching my kids grow up, watching my daughter as an adult, watching my son get married and now watching my grandson…

As I write this I can see how one might think those words so long ago could have played to my ego but the truth is… God did have something very special for my life.

As we talk to those who are hurting please be careful and don’t just give them platitudes and verses, listen for that still small voice, from God.

I’m glad Jimmy did because it has been an amazing life.