The Bald Goat

I once met a little girl named Faith and I became a complete wreck…

I was taking the youth group on a mission trip to Bayou La Batre, Alabama to help with clean up and reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina. One of the houses assigned to our group was an old historical two story house right along the waterway. The family living there had all but abandoned the first floor of the house and was living upstairs. Everything was piled up on top of everything on the second floor. The doors were gone on the first floor and chickens had taken up roost on the furniture. I was able to experience the miracle of life as a chicken laid an egg as I carried it out the door. Good times…

We assessed the damage to the house and what portion of the work we would be able to help with given our skill sets and the time we had to spend in the Bayou. So we began to work. Picking up trash, scraping paint, moving out damaged furniture, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning… One major problem existed in the upstairs bathroom. There was a water leak behind the toilet that was turning the floor into a rotting sponge. Because of the deterioration the family had all but given up on cleaning. I am going to give you my honest reaction…absolutely disgusting! I didn’t know what kind of people could use a bathroom this dirty.

And then we met the family that lived there.

We realized we had yet to really begin to work. We met parents who were defeated by hopelessness and struggled to make ends meet working every hour of the day. Children who worked to raise their younger siblings because the parents worked so much. Using a kitchen in a camper because the one in the house was destroyed in the storm. Their life was not one of living but of surviving.

The storm had ravaged more than just a building, but lives and souls, too.

And a little girl named Faith had no choice but to live in this house and use this bathroom. The thought went through my head that no little girl should ever have to use a bathroom like that. I don’t know why I was struck so hard by this, but I suddenly had a motivation that could not be contained. I worked all hours during the week that we were there, I was covered in filth and had toilet water dumped all over me. I ached because my body was soft and unaccustomed to such labor, but I couldn’t stop. Faith needed a place to be safe and clean. Her parents needed a place for her to be protected and loved. I was going to make sure I did all I could to give her one simple space, a bathroom, that could begin to put the pieces back together. Others were working on other parts of the house to begin rebuilding the the life of this family, but my soul would not be satisfied until Faith had a bathroom. I had to give everything I had for as long as I could.

You see, suddenly the work we were doing had a face and a name.

I think about the story of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10. It seems like the Samaritan went above and beyond to help a stranger. I think when the Samaritan crossed the road his course was set. From that moment he couldn’t help but bend down to look at the Jewish man and see his face and ask him his name.

It is nearly impossible to ignore the needs of our neighbor when we know their name and see their face.

I have been fortunate to meet many neighbors over the years. Luz, Mary, Joe, Faith, Requelle, and Bobby, just to name a few. Knowing their name and seeing their face changed me and helped me to do more and work harder than I knew possible. I gave up being me in order to be Christ and love others in ways I didn’t know I was capable of.

Lord, let me see the neighbors in my path every day. Help me to learn their names and see their faces. Carry me down this path of self destruction and transform me into your image.

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. - 2 Corinthians 3:18