The other day I saw a special needs adult who lives in our apartment complex and was reminded of a man I knew twenty years ago. Teddy was a homeless man in Providence, RI and you could find him often in one of the many downtown alleys asleep. On cold New England nights he would try to sneak into the Biltmore Plaza where I worked night audit. Myself and a security officer would have to escort Teddy back into sub-zero weather. There were shelters but he would not have any part of them. A few years later Teddy would be murdered on those same cold and lonely streets.
There is a theory of communications called the "I-It, I-You and I-Thou" which speaks of the levels and means of communications between individuals. The young person who works at the take-out window of a fast food restaurant is considered an "It" because we see them as someone who we need only to accomplish a task. A co-worker might be a "You" and a spouse or loved one would be a "Thou". As this Easter season passed, I wondered how many of us took the time to say to the "Its" we met "Happy Easter"? Our church gave us candy to pass out to those people who had to work on Easter and I gave mine to the local police officer sitting on the highway.
The real fact is, Jesus died for the "Its" of this world. He ate with tax collectors and lowly fishermen. His band of followers included a zealot who would even commit murder to rid the nation of Rome. He spoke to a Samaritan woman and loved on children. These were the "its" to the religious of Israel. They saw them as a nusiance and he saw them as sheepherdless sheep.
A game children play is called tag. They run around and chase one another and when they tag the other child, the say, "Tag, your It!" Well, a few years ago Jesus came up to me and said, "Tag, you are no longer an "it" you are my "Thou". It is nice to know I am considered a person of value and not one just to do a task for God, but one whom God loved so much he gave me his son. Thank You God.
No comments:
Post a Comment