Surely you know many people who wander through their lives without guidance, because they have not seen Jesus. They run and run, with no goal or end to the race that they are in. Like hamsters on the treadmill, they run faster and faster trying to finish the race, but knowing that they are not getting anywhere. They truly do not know what to do.

Finding faith in Christ is like getting off the treadmill and getting a fresh perspective on life and the true direction in which we want to travel. We view the world differently; we view people differently. We view them as Christ did, as God's creation in His image. We love people and serve people; we concentrate on others instead of ourselves. We participate in missions, local and international. We buy gifts for children we do not know. It is not important to know, just that we gave. We encourage others and put away those petty things that hurt people and placed ourselves first. Now we put Christ first, because without the vision we have through Him, sooner or later we are back on the treadmill.

Many times I have said to my students, "The eye cannot see what the mind does not know." Isn't that true? Through our experience with Christ, our vision changes even as my students' vision changes after experiencing a learning moment. Prayer is to ask God for a learning moment. As the learning moments rack up, education in the teachings of the Lord transforms us into true ambassadors for Christ, an authorized messenger or representative of God's Son to spread the message of peace and love through the way we live our lives.

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I am a man with a soft heart, but I haven't always been so. Before I met my Savior, I was a man with a bitter heart. My eyes used to pierce through others faults and failures. I suppose, in my mind, I was making myself look better by finding wrong in others. This vision that I had slowly led me down a path that I never saw coming. Before I knew it, my friends had abandoned me and my family didn't want to be around me. I was alone; my judgment of others had led me to solitude.

One day, I found myself scanning the radio stations in my car. I stopped on a radio station that was broadcasting a sermon about the Christian world view. To this day, I don't know what caused me to stay tuned into that station, but I listened to the words this preacher preached and took them to heart. He said that through the eyes of a Christian, there is hope for the hopeless. He said, "Though it may seem as though someone is about as low as you can go in their sins, there is always hope. God can see this, and Christians that see through the eyes of God can too."

I knew that I had messed up. Somewhere in my life, I took a wrong turn away from God, but after that day, I began to see people in a new way. I began to see people as God did. No one was hopeless, no one was abandoned, for Christ loves them. He loves them so much that He gave His life for them so that they could spend eternity with their heavenly Father. I thank God for that reminder that he sent me through that radio and I thank God for the new vision He has given me. There are no ugly people through God's eyes, and there is hope for the hopeless.

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I can remember the change that 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 speaks of. I went from months of despair and depression to sheer joy, almost in an instant. It occurred as soon as I accepted Jesus Christ and put my faith and trust in Him. I had heard the expression from verse 17 that says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" but never really gave it any thought. I don't know if anyone else saw the changes, but I started noticing different things about myself.

When I encountered people who I had in the past generally looked down on (drug addicts, alcoholics, homeless), I began to feel empathetic towards them. I began to look at the person, not the situation. I realized that if the situations in my life had been different, I could be that person. I had no idea what brought the person to the situation that they are in. I have no business judging others. It also dawned on me that I may be the first, or only, person who had an opportunity, no matter how brief, to make a positive impression on people that I meet. Maybe if I showed this person some compassion, it would make them see their own self-worth.

It was a very weird feeling, one that I attributed to "getting soft in my old age", but I soon understood that it was the work of Jesus. He has softened my heart and opened my eyes. I do not mean that as a figure of speech; there is no other way to explain the change. I went from being very cynical to being more understanding and compassionate. I know that there is still much work to be done, because I am not always as compassionate or understanding as I should be, but I think that I am headed in the right direction.

If Jesus can help me, especially when I am in no way deserving of His mercy and grace, then I should want to be a vessel that extends that mercy and grace to others. I have experienced the love and acceptance from others around me, even though they knew how "ugly" I was. I know how important that love and acceptance is. I only hope that I can show others the peace and love of Christ through my words and actions. I may only have one chance to show that love, I don't want to squander the opportunity.

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Last week, on the same day that I turned in my devotional in memory of Micheal Hendrickson, Glen Gray went home to be with the Lord. I was tempted to take the devotional that I wrote for Micheal and put Glen's name in it; that is, I could have written the same thing about Glen. But to honor him I write something new.

I remind everyone of the processes that we go through when someone who is close to us leaves us. Once the shock subsides our minds quickly take us to the very last moment that we had with Glen, we remember it as if it was yesterday. For me, it was a Sunday. In comes Glen, and I ask him the very same question I asked him since we met: "Hey, Glen, have you been behaving yourself?" His immediate response would be a very proud "NO", and then he would give me that smile that would just light up my day. The next step after our recall is that we feel regret. I regret that if I had known that that day would be the last time I would talk to him on this earth I would have held his hand a little longer as I was shaking it, or even gone in for a hug, just to let him know that I cared for him. The last step is celebration, I am truly thankful to God that I got to spend even just a little bit of time with Glen. He is truly in inspiration, and I admire his strength and resolve. He embodied to me a symbol of strength that I am still working to achieve--not strength of body but strength of spirit. This week we are continuing the series on beautiful people, and studying second Corinthians. This verse stuck out to me as soon as I read it. The Glen that we knew here is not the Glen we will see when we reach that wonderful place. He is a new creation, he is happy, he is healthy, and any of the illness that he felt here is now just a memory.

The example that he set for me is, no matter how bad I feel, no matter what is going on in my life, I will still be here every Sunday. Most of us never knew if Glen was not feeling well. We might have assumed that if he did not feel good he would not be at church, or at every church function we had. But that was not the case. He was here, hearing the word, showing his love for Jesus. I have come to believe that there is no such thing as a wasted life, there is only wasted time, and Glen spent every moment in the service of the Lord.

Glen was one of the first people that I met when I came to this church--he was sort of hard to miss. If you looked across the congregation you would see the tops of everyone's head, and Glen's head above them. You always new where he was sitting. I spent what now seems not enough time talking to Glen. I could have spent more time with him, and now wish I had. As we all look back on Glen, be sure to share your favorite Glen story with everyone else. Most of them are probably funny, and I know they are all heartwarming. I imagine as Glen walked toward those Pearly Gates he was asked one question: "Hey, Glen, have you been behaving yourself?"
What do you think he said?

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