I enjoy a good cry every now and again. Wait a minute, does admitting that make me less of a man or more of a man? I will admit there have been times in which I have gotten teary-eyed and have tried to hold it back in order to maintain a sense of manliness, but lets be honest- when you are moved by something beautiful, something compassionate, something that exemplifies love…how can you not cry or tear up just a little?

Well, if you are ever in the mood for a good cry (meaning a cry which occurs at the site of the previous mentioned things and not the type of cry that occurs when you have been hurt) then I suggest hunting down an episode of two of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and a box of tissues. I was watching an episode this past Sunday in which the Extreme Makeover team made over a church in New Orleans that had been completely ruined by Hurricane Katrina. As I watched the show I got a little choked up and my eyes began to accumulate with a salty discharge; I am always moved when others sacrifice their time, their wants, their possessions, in order to pour out love upon an individual who is both deserving and in need of such compassion and love. Whenever I watch the show I always have this sense, this stirring in my heart that reminds me to continually and consistently show others such humble, selfless, and compassionate love. The key words there are continually and consistently because a lot of times I forgot about that. I get lost in the business of life and that overwhelming sense of complacency sneaks upon me like a ninja creeper in the night.

I find it funny in an ironic sense how we can easily be blinded by our business and hectic schedules and become unaware of the needs of those around us. It breaks my heart when I know that the needs of those around me can be as simple as just stopping and having a caring conversation with them, calling them just to talk or getting together with them to catch up and heck, maybe even to just “chill” and have a good time. The reason why this is ironic to me is because on Friday I was once again reminded of how easily I can tune myself off to others and be distracted by the static of my own noise. At the One Day prayer event, I attended the time slot for Student Ministries of Woodside, a ministry I just happen to be a little bit involved with. Anyway, we broke up into smaller groups to pray over and about certain matters and the last time of prayer was set aside to pray about our families (this time slot encouraged students and their families to attend together). At this time I was in a group with two others and what happened next is what reminded me of my complacency and lack of awareness in the matter of loving others. As we began to pray, each one of us opened up offering our prayers up to God and sharing our hearts with one another. We shared of the hurt our families were going through, the struggles and the stress, and the weight that tolled on each of us. We shared our hearts for our family and our desire to show them the love of Christ and for us to lay our worries at the feet of God knowing that He will provide for us, comfort us, never leave us. We prayed for strength and guidance to allow our lives to bring glory to God, and we prayed for healing in the lives of our family.

The sad thing is, I knew both of these people. They were not strangers- one would fall under the category of being an “acquaintance” perhaps, and the other is a friend that I have a closer relationship with. Yet I did not know their hurt or their struggle. I know there are some times in which we wear masks and we wear them well. I know that our hearts could be breaking and our lives could be spinning out of control and yet we are too scared to reach out to someone for love and comfort even though that is what we so desperately need and desire. I remember when my dad was in the hospital we went out to eat for my brother’s birthday. We weren’t trying to mask our hurt or anything like that but while we were out, I looked around the restaurant and began to think, “No one here has any idea what’s going on in our lives right now.” I was hit in the face with that reality again on Friday, that there are people that you see and interact with everyday and they could be drowning in a world of hurt and sorrow yet we don’t ever realize it, even when they’re not trying to cover it up.

So when faced with this reality…what will I do, what can I do, what will you do?

In the words of a mad man…”CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!!”

Meaning to always be aware and attentive to the needs of those around us; to be aware of those we know and don’t know and to those who wear masks and try to wear mask.

1 John 4:7-8; 11-12

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete