Take a close look at these pictures. You’ll have to look closely. Do you see Him?

Since you’re just looking at pictures, He might be a little more difficult to identify, but it wasn’t hard at all for me to see Jesus in each one of these people when I met them face-to-face in the Dominican. They are the staff at the Eduardo Brito and Villa Esfuerzo Family Hope Centers located in some of the poorest areas of Santo Domingo, the capital city. Areas where “houses” are pieces of tin with dirt floors. Where electricity is intermittent at best, and indoor plumbing has yet to arrive. Where five, six, seven or more people share the same tiny space. Where alcohol, drugs, and gangs fill the streets. Where a 27 year old is already a grandmother. Here where it would be easy to see only the bad. Here among the least of these. Here I saw Jesus.

Just like Jesus took five loaves and two fish and fed 5,000 men, these teachers take what few resources they have and educate hundreds of children and adults. And just like Jesus, these teachers not only feed minds and stomachs, but also souls. Their tender loving care, their genuine heartbreak for the people, their relentless pursuit and focused purpose of sharing the good news, and most of all their willingness to get their hands dirty spoke Jesus to me so loudly!

In the entry way of the Eduardo Brito Family Hope Center, there is a large tree painted on the wall. The leaves are made by the fingerprints of those who have served at the center. Before Mary, Shirley, and I left, they asked us to put our “leaves” on the tree. I could hardly do it. I wanted to tell them no. I didn’t do anything. My time here was too short. There is still so much to do. There is still so much you need. What you are doing is so big, and what I have done is so small. But then I realized something, my “leaf” … added with the “leaves” of others… will one day be an oak of righteousness that not only brings shade and respite to the people here, but also is a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor. { Isaiah 61:3 }

What can you put His fingerprint on today? Remember, it doesn’t have to be big or grand. It’s that God Math thing.

May we know Him and make Him known!