the difference

Saturday afternoon I got off of the Subway and needed to go across the street to get to my store. I had come out an exit catty-corner to the store. As I got to the corner I heard a bunch of shouting and across the street was this big protest about all of the stuff going on in Syria. I’m gonna hit the corner as I pass by on the way to work and just as I am about to get to the sidewalk, a cop yells at me for trying to walk this way. I’m half a block away from where the protest is but she wants me to go a different way to my store that is literally 30 feet away.

I don’t know why they couldn't stop people before they got in the street, or had pretty much crossed, but whatever. The funny (not haha) was the old lady that was stopped after hobbling all the way across. One of my new co-workers told me later that it was a common things for Saturdays to have these protests in Times Square.

Later another one of my new co-workers mentioned that he was almost late getting to work that same morning because just as it was pulling in to one of the stations, a guy jumped in front of the train. A girl at work made a comment about how sad it was that someone would be so desperate and hopeless that they had to resort to jumping in front of the train. But she also asked a very good question, “what was the point when he decided that was what he had to do?” Was there someone that could have been there to make the difference for him?

As I consider why I came to the city, part of it is to bring hope to people like the man who had none. Now I realize I personally would probably not have had any contact with this man. Here in the city, sometimes all we can do is quickly pass a tract to people as they rush from one place to the next and pray it is a seed in the heart God has prepared. But at the same time, I don’t want to forget or neglect the fact I am the person who can make a difference in that mans life. There are so many people, it is easy to stop looking at each as a person, or more importantly, a soul for which Christ died and rose again to give new life and an eternal hope.

I would challenge you to stop looking at people as the annoyance or the source of you problem (as I point, three more fingers are pointing back at me on this one). Realize the person giving you the most consternation just might be at the point where the coming train is his last stop, not his means of getting there. If you are not a believer in God, know this: God loves you so much, He sent Jesus to die for your sin so you could be in Heaven one day; and for now, you have at least one friend on the world. If you are a believer, get over yourself; there is a world full of hurting people that could use a friend more concerned with living for God and interested in their soul than someone obsessed only with personal gain, pleasure and comfort.

I’m not going to end with a quip or humorous line, sober thinking is good for us on occasion. If each of us makes a difference in the lives we touch this week, maybe there won’t be a family next weekend wondering why their dad, brother, son, uncle, nephew, mom, sister, daughter, aunt or niece thought dying was the better option. Go change someone’s trajectory, and maybe over the next few months we can each relate a story of being the difference.