In my early days of YACHT, some dreary Saturday morning, I went down into the subway tunnels with lunches and a few friends. After being underground a few minutes, we heard the song “Amazing Grace” being played by two recorders in the distance. I remember distinctly the way it echoed in the tunnel; there was something majestic about it.
When we finally found where the music was coming from, it was a friend of mine, George, and his new friend Paul. Paul and I hit it off right away. We must have talked for hours. I don’t remember much of what we talked about, but I do remember Paul sharing his faith with me. He referenced the verses in Matthew where Jesus talks about the birds and the lilies being taken care of by God; how he knows that when he wakes up and there is a lunch next to him, or when he meets people like the folks in YACHT, that really it’s God’s hands taking care of him. And how he knows that no matter what, God loves him, treasures him and gives him abundant grace (which is why he loved playing “Amazing Grace” so much!). And that’s when I knew that his voice was God’s speaking to me. It’s funny, you start going to YACHT thinking that you’re doing a good thing, you know, charity or being Christ’s hands or something. But you quickly learn that it’s much more than that. It’s sharing something with people, in the sense that it’s reciprocal. Giving and receiving your own humanity in a few shared words about where you grew up, or in a prayer, or a smile or a hug. Even though I don’t talk about God or Jesus with every person I meet, I’ve learned more about Jesus and more about life than I’ve ever been able to give back. It is situations like these that teach us to look for Christ in the places (and people!) we’d least expect … and that’s a beautiful thing.