Did you see anyone famous over spring break? I saw Jesus. I was at Grayton Beach with the Lighthouse Retreat and each and every day I saw Jesus. He would show up at breakfast and help my friend, Caroline, get her breakfast. When he could have been hanging out with guys his age, telling jokes and laughing, he sat with Caroline and ate his breakfast and told her jokes and laughed.
During the morning devotions everyone gathered together on the beach to sing worship songs and listen to the speaker. Not Jesus…he sat on the beach digging holes with Caroline making sand castles so she could smash them laughing the whole time.
During free time, he wasn’t playing volleyball with the others his age or splashing in the ocean in front of the girls. He was sitting beside Caroline digging a tunnel to China or burying her feet in the sand.
The night of the pizza and ice cream party, everyone gathered outside to watch a movie under the stars. Not Jesus…he stayed in the house watching a movie on the television with Caroline, because she can’t handle large, chaotic groups. He stayed with her until she went to bed and then he would go downstairs and hang out with another child who wasn’t part of the crowd.
You see, my 15 year old friend, Billy, understood his purpose at the Lighthouse. His purpose was to put others ahead of himself [Matthew 7:12]. His purpose was to serve [Mark 10:45]. He understood Jesus in Matthew 25:35-46 when He said “Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for Me.”
How many of us go through life and see opportunities to be Jesus with skin on and don’t take them? How many of us would be willing to put our needs and desires aside for another? Billy made a choice at the Lighthouse. He chose to put Caroline’s needs ahead of his own. He chose to serve her. He chose to be Jesus. Will you?