Fresh Vision: Looking at someone with new eyes

I have always liked Pastor Javier Ramos from Shiloh Church.  I think he's funny, genuine, and there's something about him that screams authentic.  

This past Sunday I realized where that authenticity came from

I know he is super smart, he loves science, and is some type of scientist.  What I didn't know was how he got there.

Pastor Javier told us on Sunday that he was expelled from the Oakland Unified School District after being tossed from Skyline High School and the rest of the continuation schools in the district.  I was shocked.  

After all of that drama, he gave his life to God at 15 and then Pastor Violet Kiteley of Shiloh Church found work for him as a missionary.  When he came back, he was transformed.  He went to college, graduated in the Top 1% of 1%, and now gives presentations to Oakland Unified School District, amongst others, pastors the church, sits in the same room with our fearless leader Donald Trump,and is obviously quite successful.

When the class he was speaking to  asked, "How did all that happen?" he answered simply, "Jesus Christ" because as he said ALL of us know how that story should have ended.  Latino boy raised by a single mother in Oakland, expelled from all the schools, blah blah blah.  

But God

I thought the whole story was amazing and I felt tears come to my eyes.  

It's crazy how people can think that they were complete failures and disappointments but then someone sees something in them that says, "Hold up.  We've got something here! I see it", takes a chance by pouring into them, and then God transforms the person into a living testimony. 

Those are the kinds of stories that keep me believing and encourage me not to give up.

Pastor Javier and his lovely life Melinda have been married for over 20 years and dating over 25. They are in their early 40's so From their timeline, it sounds like they started dating as soon as he came back from his missionary journey.  

I don't know her but on the outside looking in, Melinda appears to be very cheerful, upbeat, top notch,  creme de la creme, salt of the earth, and the kind of young lady any Mom would want her son to bring home.  Besides that she was Pastor Violet Kiteley's granddaughter....I'm sure that many people didn't think she would end up with the wild kid who went away as a missionary.

I wonder what would have happened if she turned him down because he was "that failed kid who got thrown out of the Oakland Unified School District" and that just didn't fit her image.  

Pastor Javier has even mentioned on more than one occasion that his mother has asked, "Why in the world did SHE want to marry YOU!"  Now that he told us that story about being expelled from Oakland Unified School District I can see the context.  He is still clearly smitten with her after all this time.  It's pretty funny to watch him carry on because he knows he hit the jackpot.

In this season of Fresh Vision:  I have been thinking: 

"Fresh vision is seeing someone with new eyes.  Perhaps they have made some mistakes along the way and don't exactly fit what we had in mind but they were exactly who God had intended for us. "

God is Intentional but not conventional.

To be honest that really terrifies me because as you know I have my ideas about success and what that should look like but if I have learned anything over these past few years, it's that what we think looks like success could be a pile of hot garbage behind closed doors.

Perhaps on the surface someone does not check all of the superficial boxes of the world but they check the boxes that matter the most.