It was in the city of Bogota Colombia I was hit in the face with an ugly reality. It came in the form of an honest question.
I was housed a few days in the lovely home of an agnostic couple. They were the Youth Sponsors of the Union Church of Bogota Columbia. I remember walking into their home for the first time and noting their thriving marijuana plants in the hallway. They were on a U.S government grant examining the causes of poverty. It wasn't to be the warmest of hospitality, as they knew I was a Christian Youth Pastor. Indeed it can be rather chilly in Bog. The last morning we were eating breakfast together and the young man asked me what I did; what was my focus. I told him my passion for working with the poor in the barrios of Mexico. I remember well; he stopped eating, looked at me and said very clearly “You mean you are a Christian and you give a damn about the poor?”
To many Christians, the people we minister to are seen as a growing strata of human scum plagued by drugs and debauchery; forming an environment in which evil flourishes. They are right BUT as painful as it might be, someone has to enter this world of broken people. Their challenge to us? How dare you bring the light in! His light in itself reveals the ugly truth.
Below the boardwalk of life, one by one, we collect the people who fell through the cracks ... according to the Word of God, there are no worthless people!
I'm still plugging along among the poor. I'm more than aware of how my people are seen. They are comfortable in their darkness. Indeed Satan has a tight hold on them. But to God there are no worthless people ... It's simply God's will that someone enter their stinking world and love them, sharing God's grace; caution, coming as a light into their dark world is risky at best ... it makes a good target for the evil that exists. With God there is no area on earth that's off limits!
