GET DOWN IN THE DITCHES
A few years ago when I had my motorcycle accident and ended up in a ditch full of dirt, I was lost in the same way the Bible uses the world "lost." I could not get out of that ditch, even though every fiber of my being wanted to. My HEART wanted to. My spirit wanted to. Everything within me wanted to get out of that ditch, because I knew I was laying in the dirt. But I couldn't get out.
And that's how it is with the world. And that's how it is with some of the people in OUR town. And I might not be very popular for saying this, and I say with as much love as I possible can, but YOU might be the one you has to get dirty to reach those people.
When we're laying in the dirt, SOMEBODY's got to get us out. The firemen that got me out of the ditch that day, they got themselves really dirty by doing it. And when they arrived on the scene that day, they RAN to the ditch and started doing what they had to do to get me outta there!! And they didn't worry about their clothes, or how good they looked. I don't know, maybe they had on a good pair of jeans that day, or maybe one of them had on a new pair of shoes. But they didn't look at me down in the ditch and yell down to me and say, "We're clean up here, so we'll just wait 'til you get cleaned up, and then we'll come and carry you out." No, of course they didn't; they had good legs under them. And they RAN, and they got themselves dirty, and they got down in the ditch with me, and they CARRIED me out. And they did it with as much gentleness and concern for my hurts, and the situation I found myself in life, as I can ever remember.
And we, who have our spiritual legs under us, need to get down in the ditches and stop worrying so much about looking good and get some lost people found.