Thin Places

When I came to Haiti, I was expecting to see Thin Places.

Thin Places are spots where heaven is a little closer to earth.

I was expecting to see them in children’s smiles and eyes and babies’ laughter. I was expecting to find them in some great act of service that I had performed.

I am so selfish sometimes.

I haven’t found them in the children or the babies. Nothing I’ve done has brought heaven a little closer to earth for me.

In fact, I haven’t seen a single thin place since I got here.

Until tonight.

Thin places can be found in children’s eyes and babies’ laughter, but not when your heart is in the wrong place. And it definitely has been.

The only time I’ve seen a thin place all week has been in a random conversation before bed.

In talking to someone else about God, my heart was really called out.

Here I was, telling this person that God is actively seeking us all and is always willing to be found and will never abandon us or leave us hanging, and I won’t extend that same truth to someone else I know because I don’t like them.

Tonight I was reminded that God doesn’t care.

He takes us exactly as we are – with all of our faults – because He wants us desperately and passionately. He wants us badly enough to suffer the cruelest death.

I was reminded that God does not need me to decide who comes to Him.

That is not my place. He is after us all. He created us all, and He knows what He’s doing.

I cannot stand between someone and Christ because I don’t like them. I cannot decide that someone isn’t good enough for God because they’re not my friend.

Christ didn’t come to save my friends; He came to save the world. It’s time I started living like that.

Tonight heaven got a little closer to earth because, when I spoke truth to my friend, my heart was torn to shreds by the power of the very name I spoke.

Tonight, I saw God at work – not just in Haiti – but in my heart and the world.