Mud covered roads, and exhaust pouring into our lungs. This is the Manzini bus stop. A chaotic mass of people surround me. All eyes on “The Americans”. My team moved through the dense crowd. The locals stopped what they were doing to stare at us. They pointed and laughed at us. They would push and shove us as we walked past. Men, with lustful eyes scanned my body. If I even slightly looked at these men in the eyes, they would spit vulgarities at me.
They would scream, “I want you!” and reach out to touch me.
Others would ask, “How much for this beautiful American girl?”
I was mortified. This animalistic behavior irritated me. They looked at me as if I were and object that would tickle their fancy. Nothing more.
Anger flood my brain. How sick could these men be? It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I hated them.
Right then, The Lord intervened on my dark thoughts. The words, “Grace, I love these men” entered my mind. I was in complete shock. The Most High King told me that he loved these men. The same men that I labeled as disgusting, He label as beautiful. He created them in His image. He carefully knit them stitch by stitch in their mother’s womb and knows them by name. He is deeply hurt by the sin He sees them living in, but His abounding love for His Sons are all the same. No sin can make the Lord of Lords quake, for Jesus has conquered sin completely. As Jesus hung on that cross years ago, He carried these men’s sin with Him.
And you know what’s amazing? Their sin is no different than my own. I am just as evil as these men. My sin was also hung on that same cross. Who am I to judge these men?
Oh, death where is your sting? These men are completely saved from the sting of death, however, they must choose the path of light, which is already paved out for them by the blood of Jesus.
I turned and looked at these men in a completely different way. My eyes were finally opened. I looked at them the way that Christ sees them: Precious individuals.
