02.01.2010
  
Michael Fox CPCC,
founder of magine!,
is a professional
coach and trainer,
author and creative artist, whose work has been featured throughout
the world.

Michael is a
Certified Practitioner
of the
Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator.

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"Bruised and hurt...
"confused and aimless"      
I'm convinced that people are at their most vulnerable in three places: one, any kind of government building; two, a hospital; and, three, an airport. Of the three, one is unique. Typically, a visit to a government building or a hospital starts no better than it ends. Often in fact, people enter a government building or a hospital confident that things are going to get worse before they get better.

By contrast, a trip to the airport might begin at dawn with great expectation and excitement, but by day's end can devolve into desperation. It's a bit like spring training in March, when thirty baseball teams are convinced that "this is the year"; six months later, a half dozen managers have been fired and only a handful of teams remain hopeful.

On a recent, umpteenth, late night trip through Dallas, the handful of people who remained in the terminal--quite a telling name--had largely abandoned hope and any sense of personal dignity. The terminal looked much like the infamous "Boneless Chicken Ranch" from Don Larson's The Far Side. (Google it; it's worth it.) Men and women, boys and girls, spread and folded ingloriously across and around and over and beneath blocks of chairs, having surrendered themselves to exhaustion.

The terminal's shops and restaurants had transformed their storefronts into prison cells--ironically, locking people out, rather than in. There's the lonesome sound of vacuums and buffers. A few naive but resolute souls still roam the concourse looking for someone, anyone, who might offer a reasonable explanation for their cancelled flight. And wondering, "Why can't I at least get a cup of coffee?"

What makes a government building, a hospital, and an airport such spaces of vulnerability? Is it a sense of powerlessness? Injustice? Abandonment? Disenfranchisement? Or, perhaps, the full monty--all of the above?

Late night at the airport does, however, remind me of a telling moment in the gospels when Jesus looked upon the multitudes through his Father's eyes:

Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd (Matthew 9:35-38, MSG)."

 

Stuck in an airplane terminal without recourse or remedy, weary and vulnerable, void of the badges that typically identify either poverty or wealth, it's difficult to judge others by the traditional trappings. In fact, all things being equal, we're reminded that...  

 

The LORD doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart  

(1 Samuel 16:7, NLT).     

 

 

What would it take to habitually see men and women, boys and girls, not by their "outward appearance"--with all their "merit badges" that define them--but, as the LORD sees them, by looking "at the heart"--the place where they are most transparent, authentic, and therefore most vulnerable.

What might we expect to change within us when we see others
"as the LORD sees them"?

Are you prepared for others to see you, not your outward appearance, but your heart?


Michael Fox
m�agine!

530/613.2774
407 Myrtle Drive
Farmerville, LA, USA 71241  
In addition to personal and professional coaching,
m�agine! specializes in spiritual transformation coaching,
employing its proprietary models
--Values, Vision, Voice
and Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength--

as well as
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator� curriculum
published by CPP, the People Development People.

Michael's books include
 
Complete in Christ,
Complete in Christ Spiritual Transformation Workbook,
and Biblio�files.

Coaching fees are based upon a sliding scale. Contact us for details.
For additional information, visit our website at maginethepossibilities.net.

Limited scholarships are available for spiritual transformation coaching.
On the flip side, if you are able, please inquire about opportunities
to fund scholarships for those who cannot afford coaching fees.

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