Wednesday moments

while in the foot clinic yesterday
I had the tender privilege
of meeting yet another one of God's lost daughters

this 14 year-old
pregnant
ill
alone

dressed
so that on the outside
she screams
tough
stay away
don't touch

while on the inside
screaming
love me
please please please
someone love me

she allowed me to touch her

to wash her feet
and while pouring oil and ointment
into the open wounds
I was thinking of the One
who desires to pour Himself
into the wounds of this fragile child

and while wrapping her sores
I told her quietly of He who seeks
to wrap her in His love

and she was yet not able to believe
He could love her
in the midst of the things of her life
but I told her
He is simply waiting for her to say
yes .........

and as I left her
my heart was heavy
in the thinking of her
struggling to survive on the streets

and yet ........
He knows

and it is spring
the season when seeds sown
start to sprout

and then

at home

as I was reading and listing the pledges

of those who have agreed to support me

in this 60K walk

concerning cancer

I thought of cancer

the cancer that invades the body

and the cancer that invades the soul

both usually invisible

at the beginning

one

when discovered

man attempts to cure

with radiation

and/or poisons

attempting to kill the cancer

but keep you alive

all while bringing you to the very edge of death

and the other cancer

also usually hidden

at the beginning

this cancer of sin

that invades the soul

man cannot cure another of this one

although it too brings you to the edge of death

and I think of Jesus

struggling up that final hill

with the weight of the cross

on His shoulder

and the weight of sin

the stench of its death

that nailed Him to the cross

and His

IT IS FINISHED

and I pray

for all the tender shoots

for all the scattered seeds

I pray this is the season

this will be the spring

when the dying

will accept life