My Heart's Desire

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He anointed Me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set free those who are oppressed,

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

And He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all the people in the synagogue were intently directed at Him. Now He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:18-21 (NASB)

I will never forget the first day I read those words. I had been born again for about a year and was working my way through the Gospels. When I read those words, spoken by the Lord whom I loved with all my heart, they went right through me! A desire was born in my heart to not only see Him do this but to somehow be involved. 

This desire has shaped the direction of my Christian life ever since. It has taken different forms but it is always the same motivation. For example, in 2006, I left a lucrative job that was loaded with benefits to become a caregiver for minimum wage and zero benefits. I did this in order to serve the elderly and disabled in my community with the love of Christ. Many of them were unable to go to church so I felt the Lord leading me to bring the church to them. I have never felt the presence of the Lord as strongly as I did while serving my clients with His love. 

Another example has been ongoing from 2015 to the present. The Lord has led various people with various issues to my doorstep so I could give them a safe place to stay. The first was a young woman who had just completed a drug rehab program and had nowhere to go. Then came my "United Nations" era as I housed African, Chinese and Turkish immigrants. Another was a woman from Canada who was fleeing from an abusive relationship. In each of these situations, my desire was to see them embrace Christ as the only real answer to their problems. In each case, I had a front row seat as I watched Christ transform their lives and restore that which was lost. 

And now, it has led to the writing of my first novel. The Leper, (working title for now) emerged from a little meditation I had done on Matthew 8 years ago and showed to a former pastor of mine. He challenged me to turn it into a short story. I've noodled around with it for several years, trying my hand at different genres. But in the end, I decided to simply base it on that original meditation.

I wrote the meditation because even though the encounter in Matthew 8 is compelling it is very brief. A leper approaches Jesus, bows before Him and says, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus responds, "I am willing, be clean!" That's it. That's all Matthew records.

But I got to wondering, who was this man? How did he get leprosy? What did he lose by becoming a leper? What was it like when he was restored? Was everything all sunshine and rainbows or did his encounter with Jesus change him so much that he could no longer fit into his old life? 

These are the questions The Leper seeks to answer. Stick with me and you'll find out the answers as soon as I do!