The Cost of Redemption

In New York State, my home state, everyone saves their cans and bottles. I think they’re gross and stinky and sticky, but nonetheless, they are saved. There’s a reason for that – they’re worth something. You see, it’s not uncommon to see people heading into the grocery store with several clear garbage bags FULL of used beverage cans and bottles. They’re returning them at the redemption center because for every bottle and can that is returned they’re going to get a nickel! Now that might not seem like much, but when they purchased that beverage, they paid a deposit for the can/bottle that they would only get returned when they REDEEMED the can/bottle.

I’ve been thinking about this concept of REDEMPTION for the past week or so. I recall the moment that God redeemed me, reaching down from His Heavenly Throne and touching my heart on the 7th Floor of the dormitory that I resided in. God had placed a deposit for my soul over 2 thousand years ago by dying on the cross for me and at that moment was redeeming my soul.

I’ve been thinking about two particular young people that God has done amazing things in/through.

Me and Luis at the Orphanage

I already told you a bit about Luis in my last post. This young man is an amazing testimony of how God saw this boy in the mountains in Ecuador and redeemed him physically, bringing him into an environment where he could be loved and cared for in ways he could never imagine. God Almighty – reaching down from Heaven to REDEEM a young wild boy in the mountains…to bring him to a place where he can then become a conduit of God’s love to REDEEM my nephew.

Vivi

The 2nd story that sticks out to me is a young lady who lived at the orphanage as a girl and now is a house mother. She is absolutely amazing. Her stature is small (she may barely be 4 ft tall), but her personality and smile are HUGE. She had polio when she was an infant. Because she did not get the treatment she needed, she is now permanently disabled from the legs down. Her legs are somewhat disfigured. She “walks” with a pair of hand crutches.

The Dance Team

She is a young lady that GOD REDEEMED. She may be small in stature, but in God’s eyes – she is HUGE. He has used her to choreograph traditional Ecuadorian dances to several teams of dancers at the orphanage. God has taken the MOST unlikely and made her THE LIKELY. What looked like a hopeless situation for this young lady – God has taken, REDEEMED and turned into something beautiful.

I am reminded of the words of Jesus from Mark 2:17:

When Jesus heard this, he told them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

It has been amazing for me to think of how God sees even the lowliest, the sickest, the poorest and sees there is something VALUABLE within. He sees you, He sees me.

He sees something worth REDEEMING!