The Beauty was in their Faces!

When I travelled to Ethiopia I had one prayer before I left. It was simply this: Lord, show me your beauty in this place. When our group arrived at the airport, we came face to face with some pretty ugly behavior. Men toting automatic weapons demanded that we allow them to search all of our belongings, including our medical supplies. They held us up for hours, and for no reasonable explanation they confiscated much of our needed supplies. They told us we could come back the next day, and if they felt like it, we could get them back.

Driving through the city of Addis Ababa was also glum. I was still praying to see the beauty of God in this place, but the city cried in desperation for help - run down buildings, burnt out cars, roads that needed repair. Anyplace that wasn’t a road seemed to be mud. Not a big fan. The hotel was nice, but it was a constant reminder to me that as Americans in this place, we were the “haves”. A glimpse out my window to the rear of the hotel reminded me that we were surrounded by the “have-nots.”

The next day, the medical clinic was swarming with people in dire need of help. All kinds of ailments and diseases were represented. Our doctors told us that many of the sicknesses could have been cured by a $10 visit to the pharmacist back home. But who had $10 here? Might as well have been $10,000. As a result small ailments become full blown health issues. Where was the beauty in this?

I prayed in earnest for God to show me his beauty. And he answered that prayer! As a part of our “village team,” we began to do daily work at the schools with the children, and we also paid visits to people with HIV and AIDs. The beauty was in their faces. And the beauty was overwhelming. What I had missed before I saw so clearly now. It was if Jesus himself was shining through every smile, every touch, every embrace.

My lesson was well learned. Stop looking for beauty in your surroundings. See it in the people who are all around you. You don’t have to go to a foreign land to see God’s beauty in their faces!