Because yes, Jesus is there. In that searching, that longing, that wondering and wandering. Some may see a life at odds with life itself, but I see more than that. I see a life that longs for more than what life can normally provide. After all, when life drives us to the edge of its borders, not all of us fight tooth and nail to get back to the middle of the road. No, some of us find in our hearts a cry for another road entirely. That is what I see in this man and that is why right now I am seeing Jesus in him, because Jesus knows. He alone knows the yearning. And he alone can satisfy.
So he hovers around this man, watching, waiting, loving him immensely.
My prayer today is for the outliers. Beyond the rhythms of life and death, courtship and birthdays and traditional dream cycles, there are a brave and burdened few who pursue the unpursuable, believe the unbelievable. We judge them. Some of our judgments may be right. But the one that is always wrong is that the image of God cannot be found in broken faces. The heart of Jesus knows the heart of humanity, and in the hearts of those whose journeys take them far from the center of the circle of life, he is burning fierce and bright, calling out for love.
