En La Madrugada (At Dawn)

At dawn today, I was riding a train from the United terminal to the parking lot where my car was parked for the weekend, when an elderly women stepped onto the train and sat facing. It was 4:45 am and she was just arriving for work at the International terminal.

I don't know why she made such a big impression on me, except that this elderly Latino woman looked to be someone's grandmother, and she looked so tired and burdened that I could not help but wonder what her life was like. What her story was.

Over the weekend I taught that so many people live their entire lives without ever experiencing or encountering the unconditional love of Christ that leads to forgiveness and transformation, and that God's desire is that everyone of His children come to know His love in that way. I also shared that it is that compassion that moves us to become involved in the lives of others.

In this woman, I saw loneliness. I saw hardship. And, I felt compassion, knowing that there are millions of women like her all around our globe who are struggling to survive, who will never have a retirement plan, or the luxury of having someone take care of them at a time in their lives when they should no longer have to work. With everything going on in my mind, all I did was offer her a very weak smile. One stop later, this woman exited the train, and disappeared from my sight.

I arrived at the remote parking lot, quickly found my car, and eagerly drove away to get home to my wife and kids. You never know who you are going to encounter, en la madrugada.