God sees the heart. Something we humans cannot do unless it is revealed to us by Him. Those of us in service work or ministry are filled with compassion for people and that is what drives us. However noble our efforts to ‘help’ others, having compassion is still not seeing the heart. An immense amount of compassion can be the opposite. Compassion says, I see your circumstances, your home in need of repair, your broken-down car, your dirty clothes, and I want to help. If we could see the heart, we would never even see the condition of the home, the car, the clothes but rather, we would connect immediately with the soul of the person. We would know that that person needs Jesus — and we have brought Him.

Some people need an act of kindness to accept an act of love and that is what Impact Cares does. We do acts of kindness in preparation for people to receive God’s love. While it is easy to see the homes, we strive to see the hearts. As Christ followers our prayer should be, “Lord let me see through your eyes the heart of a man, and if you will but give us one, him we will love.” Billy was my one on this job.

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His home was tattered and torn, the yard was dirty and unmanicured, and the steps to his door were broken down and tied to the house with a thin rope. My compassion was growing with every noticeable need.

Billy was gruff and his speech slow and muffled. He spoke of being in the Navy and his t-shirt suggested he was an old biker. He was rough looking, and every inch of his forearms were scarred and tatted. His language was not one I normally tolerated, and he was offensive with his gestures as well. After a brief introduction and explanation of who we were I was ready to go! I turned to walk away catching a glimpse of an old rusty barrel with a tattered and torn American Flag proudly mounted on it. A soft whisper in my ear said, “look again, look at his heart.” I turned around and all the outward needs were faded and insignificant, the gruff vulgarity invisible – God was revealing his heart. I saw a heart filled with pride for his country and hurt from many. A heart full of pain from a lifetime of disappointments and disillusionments. I no longer saw and man, I saw a soul. A soul hanging on to life with as thin a rope as the one holding up his porch steps. I was instantly filled with God’s love for a man I would otherwise have no desire to be around. All I wanted at that moment was to give him Jesus and if that took building him a new porch that’s what I wanted to do. We built Billy a deck. He also got a new flagpole mounted on his home and a beautiful

new flag.

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We made many heartfelt relationships on that job, some that will last long after we are gone. Yet it is the spiritual connections that will require our continual prayer. When God opens our eyes to see what He sees – that is the place of not only impact but of responsibility!

“Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

— Galatians 6:2