When was the last time you looked into someone's eyes?  Really peered deeply into their eyes in order to discern their soul? 

It has been said that the eyes are the window of the soul.  One of the most mysterious parts of our body is our eyes.  They often define us because, like fingerprints, everyone's eyes are unique. No pair of eyes are the same.  

It isn't much of a surprise, then, that I have recently become more acquainted than ever before with Jesus Christ because of eyes.  Let me explain.

It is said that Jesus lives within each one of us.  He is a part of us.  It should follow, then, that when we peer into another's eyes that, in some way we should see the eyes of the Savior.  We should be able to recognize various aspects of His nature and personality and come to know Him even better.

I am employed by what is designated a "transitional housing facility.:  Most know this as a homeless shelter.  I am a case manager whose job it is to work closely and personally with residents of the house who come to us for help.  They come from all walks of life and have found themselves without a home for a whole host of reasons.

Some have been long-term drug users and have been living on the streets.  Others have come from violent domestic situations in which it was dangerous just to remain where they were.  Still others have not fallen into any kind of addiction but may have lost a job and then their home and have nowhere to go.  Whatever the reason, we are here to serve those who, in large part, have found themselves on the margins of society.

There are countless sad stories detailing histories of endless days spent high searching for enough money to scrape together to get the next high.  Some brings stories of a harrowing life on the streets becoming entangled in drug warfare and black market deals gone wrong.  The saddest tend to be the single mothers with children who come in with little or nothing to give the children to eat, let alone clothe them adequately for the harsh climate.  These are the innocent victims.

They are sometimes difficult to look at.  Some come with what appears to most people to be bizarre piercings in any number of places on the body.  Others are tattooed from head to toe in every imaginable illustration of anything and everything.  Many of them simply look menacing because of the life they have led on the streets.  If you don't look tougher than the next guy in their world, you are likely to become a victim.

These are the kinds of people for whom Jesus came!  Yes, He did come for all of us for all of us, like the marginalized, are broken people.  But Jesus had an affinity for these lost souls.  He understood them unlike anyone else because He was one of them.  He was a poor carpenter born of a poor, hard working carpenter and Who lived among them all of His life.  But most of all, Jesus understood that poverty was the prowling grounds of the Father of Lies and understood that the poor were so susceptible to the temptations employed by him.  He protected them like an older brother protects his younger siblings.  

I never really quite understood the meaning behind what some people said when they related to seeing the eyes of Christ in others before I came to my work with the homeless.  It was a sort of pretty, intriguing saying that somehow brought comfort when you thought enough about it but was somehow unreal.  It had a hollow meaning that only vaguely touched me and not that often!