Jesus Loves You

My friend Amy Camp shared a story with me about a friend she met while traveling in South Africa. He was in the AA recovery movement, and he shared his story with her. He said he moved to New York City as a young man and, even though he came from a good family back home, he somehow got addicted to crack cocaine. He was actually living in a crack house. He wasn’t sleeping and had become extremely paranoid. And one day he found himself on the sidewalk – just weeping. 

Amy said that he is a big guy, and looks kind of tough, so it was hard to imagine this big tough guy on the street crying. But, he told Amy, “There I was standing on the street weeping, and a little African American boy came up to me and ask me what was wrong. I was sobbing and shaking and I said, ‘Nobody loves me. Nobody loves me. Nobody loves me.’ The boy looked at me and said, ‘Jesus loves you.’ And it just hit me in a powerful, moving way.” 

I don’t know whether he remembered that children’s song from his childhood, but somehow Amy’s friend and boy both started singing the song, “Jesus loves me, this I know.” He went on to tell Amy, “That moment on the street changed my life. I realized that I wanted more than ever to get sober, and I so called my brother in Johannesburg. And my brother sent me a ticket home.”

The compassion of a small boy who responded to the tears he witnessed, was the beginning of a new life for that young man.  

I pray today that in a similar way, you and I would be tuned in to the pain of others. May God give us a spirit of compassion, and simple words that heal.

Let us pray: We thank you, O God, for sending the right people into our lives at the right times. May you use us in a similar way for others. Tune our hearts to the needs of others, and grant us a willing spirit to respond. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.