Yesterday I spoke to some young girls who were going through the Mercy Ministries of America rehab program in Nashville TN, (thanks for your prayers for me, I felt them). They politely listened and when I was through asked questions for the better part of an hour.
Afterwards I went to lunch with them and a few of them offered their personal testimonies. As they poured out their tragic stories I could feel the hurt and anguish that each of them felt. One in particular really made me stop and think. She read a poem that she’d written and it was very sad and melancholy. She then gave her testimony and related that her mother was a drunk and concentrated solely upon staying that way. This little girl was neglected and often would go hungry for days at a time while her mother drank herself into oblivion. In order to survive she ate condiments because that was the only thing available to eat. She stated that to this day that she cannot stand to even look at mustard because that is all she had to eat.
I read in USA Today yesterday of a man who got arrested for sending pictures to other pedophiles all over the country of him and another man raping his own daughters. He had several photos of him raping his own 7 year old daughter. He would give them an Ambien sleeping pill and after they went to sleep he, and his friends would rape them repeatedly.
Most of the girls at Mercy have been the victims of similar incidents. It is one thing to read about it in the newspaper and entirely another to look into the sad eyes of one of these victims and hear first-hand of the horror that they have endured. Often the worst thing about it is the guilt that THEY feel as though somehow it was their fault.
Last night I went out to eat with a Nashville record producer who has produced hundreds of gold and platinum albums of about every major performer in the country. I was accompanied by Mercy Ministries founder Nancy Alcorn, and singer/songwriter Dana Glover who will visit Mercy today and play the piano and sing for the girls.
I had prime rib and a twice baked potato and as I was eating I thought several times of that young girl’s comments about eating mustard and I wondered how many little boys and girls were rummaging through their refrigerators, (or dumpsters) looking for a scrap of food while the rest of us are pigging out.
During the course of the evening my record producer friend told me he had just changed churches because they didn’t seem to understand the concept of love. He said everything was about building bigger and better buildings, parking lots, and so forth. He told me repeatedly that God is love, but the leadership of this and many other churches do not seem to comprehend what that means. They often look at these girls who may have some tattoos, and piercings and be dressed shabbily and cross the street to get away from them.
As I thought about this today it reminded me of this passage in Luke: Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side . . .
Next a Levite came along and did the same. Finally a despised Samaritan (half breed Jew) came along: But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him . . .
He paid for his room and board in advance and asked the innkeeper to take care of him and assured him he would check in with him when he returned from his trip and pay more if necessary. So Jesus told this story and asked: Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?”
Let me give you a big clue, it wasn’t the priest of the highly esteemed Levite. It was the despised half breed guy who had Godly love in his heart. ”And he said, the one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
I think Mercy Ministries is the perfect name for this organization and is representative of what Jesus was teaching here. As my record producer friend lamented, we are at a point where we cannot rely on organized religion to care for our wounded, poor, homeless, prisoners, and the down trodden. The church established by Jesus and the one He leads today however, is a different story. We are commanded to be merciful and compassionate and that includes every person who has been born again and not just a few caring people like Nancy Alcorn.
So one might ask, “What am I doing in this regard? If you are embarrassed by your honest answer, then why not volunteer or at a minimum get the old checkbook out and at least financially support those who are trying to help others? Think about this when you put some mustard on your next hot dog. Selah . . .
Isaiah 58:7
Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
May 20, 2014 – Click here to listen