Brian Castelli – With His Heart

My commute to work stretched out in front of me like a scroll. I didn’t feel like listening to the teaching mp3’s I had loaded in my player–too heavy. I’d had a bad night and a worse morning. I felt overwhelmed. It seemed like nothing was going right. I felt alone, like no one else could really understand. I reached into the center console and pulled out a Mark Shultz CD. I hoped that a bit of music would lift my spirits.

I inserted the CD into the dash-mounted player. Track 1 played for a moment. No. Skip to track 2. Then 3. Then 4. Ah! That was the one. I Have Been There. One of the choruses reads this way:

Oh I have been there
I know what fear is all about
Yes, I have been there
And I am standing with you now
I have been there
And I came to build a bridge oh so this road could
Lead you home
Oh I have been there

God has been there. He does understand my situation. He understands, not in some abstract, aloof way, but as God-made-man in Christ Jesus. Even when I feel alone, like there’s no one who has been in my shoes before, I can know that He has been there.

I brushed a tear from my eye as I drove. Thank you, Jesus.

In the most-recent edition of the Christian Research Institutes’s Journal magazine (www.equip.org), Sean McDowell reviews the book Thank God for Evolution by Michael Dowd. McDowell quotes Dowd’s explanation for his shift from Bible-believing fundamentalism to evolutionary evangelist:

“First, I came to know and trust several students and teachers before learning that they held evolutionary world views.”

Dowd is a smart guy. It seems likely that he has considered the evidence carefully. But what I find particularly compelling in his story is that relationships he built with people who held opposing viewpoints with him ultimately led to his change of heart and mind. My guess is that he came to trust these folks before he was willing to give their viewpoint a fair hearing.

This applies to all of us. When we carry the truth–either to an unbelieving co-worker, a homeless vagabond, or a student at the local high school–we need to show them that we care through our relationship with them.

I’m reminded of the story of the Hall’s relationship with Denver Moore (http://briancastelli.com/?p=211). It was the people who came down to the mission week after week that came to be trusted. As we build our relationships, we must be consistent in the way we spend time with people. Drive-by charity doesn’t build relationships…