A middle-aged couple are at their wits' end. Their teenaged son is totally out of control as he is slowly being destroyed by alcohol and drugs. There is nothing left to home life but curses and screaming threats. The parents wonder how they could have failed so miserably as they look for some explanation that might help them find the family they had hoped for almost twenty years earlier.

A man in his early twenties is angry at the world. He dropped out of school thinking that it was a waste of time, that he could do better in the real world making his own way. But he has been out of work for over a year, and there do not seem to be any prospects ahead. He finds himself doing things he never expected like stealing from friends and family or begging from strangers in order to make a little money. He's already had several run-ins with the law.

A young teenager has just learned that she is pregnant. She is scared to death. What will her parents do? What about school? Who can she talk to for real answers to her very hard and confusing questions? She wishes she could die.

Can you hear the cries of pain? Some of these may be your neighbors. Though their bitter hurt has been deafening in their own ears you may not have yet heard a sound. Listen closely, and let your heart tune your ears and eyes. Take time to see where they are struggling. If you learn to hear and see with the eyes of Christ you will also become burdened to reach out to them and show them hope.

We need believers and church families who will allow God to so transform their minds that seeing spiritual and physical needs becomes second nature. In the shadow of your Sunday morning worship are untold numbers of suffering people, people that God loves, that Jesus Christ gave Himself for. They are people like you once were, lost and hopeless until a concerned believer shared the Good News of salvation with you.

We must take down the pretty painted walls and stained glass that separate us from the multitudes that surround us. We are the ones who have been blessed and entrusted with the Spirit of Christ to boldly declare what great things God has done. Our Jerusalem is largely ignorant of the things of God and can hardly recognize what it is they need. But we can know if we listen. If we are obedient to the call of the Lord on our lives we will respond as Jesus would respond and offer them the living water and bread that satisfies to the very center of our being.

Hear the cry of the hopeless! Listen to the voice of God concerning what He would have you do. Be obedient followers of the Shepherd from Galilee, and allow the Holy Spirit to build a bridge from your heart to those lost in darkness.