This is a re-run of a blogpost from back in 2011.
I felt an urge to republish it tonight.
So for whatever reason the prompt has come.
May it bless you massively.
Here goes.
Tonight I am Just chilling.
My earphones are firmly in my ear canals.
From the depths of my Smartphone streams a song. Leona Lewis singing "The first time ever I saw your face." It sounds like pure golden liquid pouring into my ears.
As the song played its spine tingling notes, I began to reflect on the first time I ever saw the face of Jesus.
It was in Victoria train Station in London back in 1999.
And on reflection tonight, it was the very moment that changed my life forever.
No flashes of lightning, or claps of thunder.
I saw a homeless girl sitting down propped up against a wall.
She was so young.
She was tired, dirty and obviously hungry.
I don't know what made me stop.
As from a distance I looked at her, I saw another girl, also so young, but much healthier, clean and well dressed, walk over to her and simply kneel down beside her.
She placed her hand on the girls shoulder and whispered something into her ear. She was seemingly to oblivious to the thousands of people coming and going to their respective destinations. More than that the thousands walking past seemed oblivious to the homeless girl lying on the floor.
As she placed her hand on her shoulder, she closed her eyes and began to pray for the homeless girl.
As she prayed, I saw tears start to stream down the homeless girls face. They left tear-trails in the dirt on her face.
I watched.
Transfixed.
I had never ever encountered Jesus in my life before, due to my indifference.
But here in the face of this young homeless girl, I saw him.
I saw Jesus.
I encountered him in her hot tears.
I saw him in her pain filled face.
I was so touched.
This was a simple act of kindness in a frantically busy London train station. But I knew that in that one moment something big happened in my life.
I think that was the first time ever I saw His face.
It was so amazing.
It changed my life forever.
All the rubbish that was attached to my life, stuff that I had been dragging around with me for years seemed to loosen. I had a feeling inside that this was a real chance to draw a line on the past and begin a new life.
In that moment I couldn't get away from the feeling that the only way to experience a new, full, amazing life, the only way, was to be in relationship with Jesus.
I was also dumbfounded by the girl who had taken the time to care for this young girl.
How brave she was.
How beautiful.
How breathtaking was the unconditional love she was showing.
I was in a daze, I just felt like abandoning my life altogether and spending the rest of my life wiping the tears of the lost and the lonely.
My life up until that moment meant nothing. All the partying and overspending just suddenly came out into the open and I saw it clearly as a worthless pile of hopelessness.
I wanted desperately that my life should mean something.
And the first time ever I saw His face? It all changed.
Changed in an instant.
I remember saying over and over, "Will you fix my broken life?"
And all these years on? He has.
So do you remember the first time ever you saw His face?
Hey, maybe you have never seen His face?
Look around you.
He is absolutely everywhere.
In the eyes of brokenness.
I urge you to look for His face.
Maybe you haven't seen Him for a while?
As I say, maybe you have never seen him.
The other day I gave a pair of my jeans to a guy who has nothing. He had soiled his one pair of jeans in a drunken stupor. As I handed them over to him, his face just lit up.
His face looked almost angelic.
Definitely, I was giving the jeans to Jesus.
It felt like an act of communion somehow.
More and more amidst the often lifeless religion and church, and all that stuff, I see Jesus crying out for water, food and even a pair of jeans.
So if you have never seen His face?
There is always a first time.
