Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. I met with the Master inside, with a hot cup of the best coffee on the planet and my Instruction Manual to keep my path straight as I welcomed in this new day of a new week of Living. I took this photo from the bedroom window (almost) as soon as my feet hit the floor this morning. Even though it looks warm and inviting outside on this November day, the temperature tells a entirely different story. When I made my way downstairs and opened the front door, I was faced with the truth, and the cold temperature seemed so out of place at sunrise on such a beautiful day. What a sweet reminder straight from the Throne of a Mighty God this morning that this is just the way it is with Life! We can’t judge the heart of someone else, and we can’t base the way we treat them on what we see on the surface….WE HAVE TO OPEN THE DOOR to find the truth. It will ALWAYS be what’s behind what we can only see with the eyes that matters the most. Isn’t that the way you look at the Journey of Faith, too?

It’s so easy for us to draw our own conclusions about people just by what we see, but the REAL truth can only really be seen when we open the door. We see well-dressed people living in luxury homes, and we conclude that they are people of means. But I’ve been inside the homes of some of those people the outside world admires from afar, and I’ve found homes with no heat and no food more often than you care to know. These people were so desperate to impress the world from the outside and far too proud to allow a door to their truth to be opened. But through love, patience, and a whole lot of grace, any door can be opened.

We see “street people” with filthy clothes and their matted hair, and we conclude that they are one step away from being worthless. But I’ve had conversations with some of those people that most of the world ignores, and when I opened the door, I saw a life that was filled with hopes and dreams and productivity just like mine…before they lost their way. We see people living a life of addiction, and we think of them as weak and reckless, and selfish when we do. But I’ve been in the presence of grown men as they’ve cried about the pain they’ve caused their loved ones over and over again, and behind the door of that addiction is a man or woman longing to be free.

Behind every door is truth AND beauty that will never be seen UNLESS we’re willing to open the door. But it takes time, Heart, and compassion to be willing to open a door when we’ve already painted an ugly mental picture of what we THINK we see on the outside. It takes Humility to understand that if not by the grace of a Mighty God, you could be precisely where they are. It takes courage to open the door and compassion to face whatever is there. It takes a Christ-like heart.

I’ve lived long enough and I love big enough that not a whole lot surprises me anymore. I try not to assume anything about anyone based on where they are or how things appear to be, and I ALWAYS tell them about Hope that is theirs if they want it. I gently knock on their door until it opens, because it’s behind the door where the truth and the beauty can be found, and it’s behind the door where I’ll see how to pray and how to help…and when to Lead them to Jesus Christ.

I’ve had a season or two in my life where I’ve fooled the world from the outside, and despite my life circumstances (that should have been a red flag), nobody attempted to open the door to find my truth, and my journey was more painful and prolonged because of it. I learned some valuable lessons behind that closed door, and today, it’s not so easy to fool me. Today, my life is an Open Book to minister to the masses while I do my very best to meet spiritual needs and to love unconditionally, NO MATTER WHAT I SEE ON THE OUTSIDE…and THAT’S how people will see Christ in me everywhere I go!

Does the world see Christ in you?

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.