Has Anyone Seen Crystal?

Has Anyone Seen Crystal?

One of my dearest friends has a wonderful voice and was a soloist for several years with the famed Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.  She and I have traveled across the states of the Southeast where I have been privileged to speak for women’s conferences and she was the guest vocalist.  We have flown on tiny, puddle-jumper planes in the middle of horrific storms, dashed through airports to make last flights back to Atlanta, and encouraged one another in worship services of every style, make, and flavor. 

She has ministered to me in some very difficult times, and I count it an honor to pray for her as she travels, through her job, across the world.  We love each other, and I call her my sister from another mother.

Years ago, she was to sing for a class of about 250 women where I was to teach.  It was nearing time for the program to begin, and I was praying that Crystal would be able to make it from her downtown Atlanta job in time to be first on the program.  As I scanned the crowd, I began to ask several of the women helping with the program if anyone had seen Crystal.  As I moved down from the platform to go outside to watch for her, I was asking people I knew if Crystal had made it yet.  All of a sudden, I heard Crystal say, “Gerry, I’m right here in the front row.  I’m the only woman of color in the entire room; how could you possibly not see me!”

As we both laughed, I spoke my heart to her:  "Crystal", I said, "I wasn’t looking for a woman of color.  I was looking for you."  You see, when I look at my sweet sister, I see a heart for Jesus, a talented singer, a smile as big as Texas, and a successful businesswoman who happens to be a little darker in complexion than I. 

I am so grateful to have a Heavenly Father who knows me with a love that is more than skin deep.  He doesn’t decide if I fit the demographics before He uses me; He is color blind, size blind, and age blind.  The only thing He looks for in me is if I have been washed in the blood of His Son, my Savior.  Thanks be to God that His primary concern begins on the inside.  As 1 Samuel 16:7  teaches, "…the LORD said to Samuel, Don't judge by his appearance or height... The LORD doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Father, please help me to be more concerned about my own heart and the heart of others than the outward appearance.  Protect me from prejudice and bias in any form, while always stirring my heart to live in such a way as to promote the only important question: What have you done with Jesus?  Convict me that tolerance, often replacing or obscuring that burning question, is really just apathy.  Lord, help me to remember that Jesus, and only Jesus, can bring us together as sisters and brothers with one Father.

© 2011 Gerry Sisk

(08/24/11)