Open My Ears

A few weeks ago I took some seniors from Arapahoe High School with me to help out at a local Capernaum Young Life club for teenagers with disabilities. In our senior small group, we’ve been talking about how Jesus came to bring heaven to earth, and how we reflect him when we love others. It was the first time any of the seniors had ever interacted with kids with disabilities and it was good for my soul to watch God open their eyes, and to hear Him open my ears. It didn’t take long for them to realize that these kids that weren’t as different from them as they originally thought. Even the way they did YL club was almost identical to the way we do it. Kids sang fun songs, got messy with silly games, and one of the leaders shared part of the Gospel.

After his talk, he broke the kids up into small groups for discussion around one question, “Where have you seen God working in your life.” Honey Cate and I sat in a circle with 6 kids and 1 leader, a few of the kids were in wheel chairs. I was blown away by the depth of responses I heard. One kid said that he had always wanted to be a firefighter, but when he was younger, he was in an accident that resulted in a brain injury and now he can never be a firefighter. He said he felt like God wasn’t working in his life because God was not allowing him to reach his dream of fighting fires.

A few other kids shared from their hearts, and then it was Buddy’s turn. Buddy sat in a motorized wheel chair and started speaking passionately about something, but I couldn’t understand a word he was saying due to his slurred speech. After he finally paused, the teenager sitting next to him, a 15 yr old named Joey, started interpreting what Buddy had been trying to communicate. Joey told us that he was Buddy’s younger brother who had come to Capernaum YL with Buddy to help him along. He told us that Buddy was talking about how he experiences God through music, specifically the band “Mercy Me.” Buddy kept talking and I slowly began to make out a few of the words he was saying. Joey took another shot at translating Buddy’s 2nd round and Buddy corrected him on something, then they both laughed.

It was beautiful to watch those teenage brothers interact. As I listened to Buddy and couldn’t understand him at all at first, I was amazed that Joey could identify exactly what he was saying. It was clear that he had spent a lot of time with his brother, and had eventually learned how to hear his voice. God gave me a gift in that moment. It was as if He was whispering to me, saying “Be with me, listen to me, and slowly, you too will learn how to hear my voice.”
In this season of transition, when I’m about to graduate from seminary and have no clue what God is calling me to do next, I long to hear His voice.