Windows to the Soul

They say the eyes are the window to the soul. I’m not sure that I always feel that to be true, though I know there is truth in this poetic idea. But this past week…well, I guess you could say that I saw many souls. And beautiful souls at that, ones that have impacted me beyond what I ever expected.

I spent 5 days in New Orleans helping with Hurricane Katrina Relief work. God opened the door about as wide as it could go for me to travel down there to help. And so I walked through it, not sure of what to expect, but stepping out in faith for Him to use me…

Imagine the brightest pair of blue eyes you’ve ever seen – not as light as the blue sky, not as dark as the ocean waters, but piercing swirls of a blue more akin to what you might see on your computer screen, a bright, cerulean kind of blue. They sparkle, surrounded by deep lines which display the laughter and smiles that have lifted these eyes in their many years, and are almost warm as they say hello. Step back a bit, and you see gray hair, the round body of a true New Orleanian accustomed to fried foods, and a bit of a tired demeanor. But the eyes – a window to the soul of a man who devotes his days to serving the people in his community, to giving out pounds and pounds of food, water, clothes and diapers, to people who cannot afford it by themselves. Sure, he probably struggles to buy these things for himself, but he’d rather worry about other’s needs. If you ask him how he’s doing, you will probably hear something like, “Blessed by God.” A man who will not let one of these go from his presence before lifting them up in prayer to the God he serves so diligently and so joyfully….

Ron invited our team to step into his crazy world for a few days, in which we were able to catch a glimpse of many more souls whom he meets on a regular basis. Now imagine the contrast of these bright, joyful, sparkling blue eyes…

Dark, nondescript circles of brown or gray….nearly a reflection of the flood waters that carried dirt and dust for days and days, and which hold little purity anymore. Eyes that rarely sparkle or shine, which also carry lines around with them - lines carved in from worry, tears, fear, and discouragement. Just like the waters that savagely cut through and carved into their homes, workplaces, cars, and their lives. When you look through these windows, you see a deep, dark pit of frustration and just a slight tinge of hope, which keeps them pressing on through the remnants of those dirty flood waters. Person after person seemed to display souls very similar to that of the next person. You ask one of these how they are doing, and you’ll probably hear, “Making it through,” “Doing okay,” or, “Surviving.” How it hurts to hear them say it. These are people who survived a deadly hurricane 20 months ago, and are still barely making it because there is so little help, and so little hope.

And do you know why their windows are so cloudy? Well, one is living in a trailer, unsure of when the government will take it back from him, asking for food after coming straight from a funeral. A woman’s son is angry and mean and can’t comprehend what has happened, while she also deals with the guilt of the loss of her mother, who she found dead after the storm kneeling in prayer. One man’s sister was left for dead in a nursing home, another’s father is in the hospital having a triple bypass while she prays that God take her instead of her parents, one tells a story of cutting herself out of her attic with a chainsaw after being stuck for 4 hours in fear of the growing waters and wind. These souls do not scoff when you ask them if you can pray for them, they are not opposed, they gratefully accept, even if they don’t know Jesus….and then come back week after week for the same thing, forced to humbly depend on other people for survival.

Imagine another pair of dark, clear, empty eyes that as you speak slowly become brighter and feel creases as they lift in a smile. A soul so tired and worn, eyes that have seen too much. And yet there is joy…because he knows Jesus. Step back and you see a tall, skinny, 60 year-old black man in search of a warm meal. A man who is temporarily homeless…who dragged himself to a New Orleans Mission simply to get some food….who lost nieces and nephews as they drowned in those terrible flood waters of hurricane Katrina, trapped in their home. A man who survived because God told him a way out…and who repeats to himself Psalms 37:16, “Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked.” He can barely see the words in the bible because the words are so small, but he doesn’t need to see to know these words. Because he feeds off of them, he lives on the very words of God. He didn’t come to the mission looking for love, or even conversation, just food. But he left with someone who showed they cared and that the Holy Spirit used to keep him around to hear scripture and encouragement shared by many others like him.

There are so many others like this in Louisianna, struggling to make it through. But I saw, maybe truly for the first time, what Jesus saw in his time on earth. These are who He came for, this is who he loves, who he spent his time with.

There may be few people in New Orleans who are truly happy….their lives have just been too hard, and continue to bring struggles each new day. But from those who know God intimately, to those who are just trying to make it through….they live on slices of hope, on a bit of laughter, from the help that comes from others, and on the very words of a miracle-working God. Oh, that my eyes might one-day reflect a soul like these, so humble, and so in need of Jesus....“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”