Keegan Stewart: Summer Devo Series

Keegan Stewart: Do you remember that feeling when you were 16 years old, 15 years old, and you were going to get to drive a car by yourself for the very first time?
You think of that feeling, that experience?
I remember mine.
It's probably 15 because in New Mexico you can drive a little bit earlier.
And I convinced my mom and dad to let me take my mom's car out for a ride.
I was probably going to go to Taco Bell or Allsup's or one of the other fine dining establishments where I grew up.
And I went and they agreed to let me go and I was fired up.
I felt, you know, I felt that freedom.
I felt, OK, finally, I get to do this.
I'm I'm a man now, you know, 15 years old.
So I get set up.
I get my music going and I'm taking off.
And not long after I passed one block out of my neighborhood, something with my phone in the middle console area kind of slid over to the passenger side.
And I promptly went to get it with the left hand on the wheel and let the left hand kind of do that, which is when I ran into Mr. Napton's truck parked on the side of the road.
What was freedom and enthusiasm quickly turned to disappointment and despair and embarrassment.
And I had to go talk to my parents about it.
And I remember being scared to do so, feeling like I had an opportunity and I lost it, I blew it.
But I'll tell you what I remember about how that conversation went.
Though they were disappointed that that went the way that it did, I left that conversation still feeling seen and loved by my parents.
Feeling seen for who I am, not for the thing that I had just done.
I'm blessed to have three nieces and one nephew.
My oldest niece is five years old, and I like talking to her about the different movies that she's watching.
I mainly like asking her, have you seen Finding Nemo? Have you seen Monsters, Inc.? Have you watched Cars?
Yeah, I mainly like asking her about the movies that we grew up watching.
And unfortunately, the answer is often no, I haven't seen that. I mainly watch Bluey.
But recently I asked her about Beauty and the Beast. Again, hasn't seen it yet.
But then I started thinking about Beauty and the Beast. And I know you all have seen that movie.
I know some of you love that soundtrack and like to sing it, but consider that movie with me for a moment.
Let's think about the beast.
A character who is different than everybody else.
A character who's made choices that other people judge him for.
A character that other people want to see removed from town, maybe even killed.
That's the reputation of the beast.
That's how the beast is seen from other people.
But then there's Belle, how does bell view the beast? She doesn't see him for all the other reasons
that other people do, she doesn't hold him to the things that other people hold him for, she doesn't
just see him for his appearance. She sees him for what's on the inside she sees him for who he really
is. And if you notice, when the beasts feel seen from Belle in that way, everything changes for him.
Everything changes. I want to draw from one biblical text this morning that we can hopefully
find encouragement from. It's a story that all of you know, especially if you've been a church goer
your whole life. You heard this story probably when you're four or five years old in VBS. I want
to go to Luke 19 and talk about a story about a short dude named Zacchaeus. And hopefully we can
find something encouraging from it. I'm just going to read it. It's short, just a few paragraphs.
"Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was a
chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short,
He could not see over the crowd. He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him
since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him,
Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once and
welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, he has gone to be the guest of a
sinner. But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, Lord, look here and now I give half of my
possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four
times that amount. And Jesus said, today salvation has come to this house because this man too
is a son of Abraham for the son of man came to seek and to save the lost." This is a story that
we all know we could explain it to somebody else easily without thinking about it. But in the last
year or so, I've really been looking at this story and pulling a few things out of it in a different
kind of way, and I'll tell you what I see now when I read this story. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus,
but Zacchaeus was the one who was seen, and that's when everything changed for him.
Zacchaeus had a crowd in front of him. He had a negative reputation that he had to balance. He also
had short height. He had to even climb a tree. He went through all of these actions to try and see
Jesus, but Jesus saw him, and that's when everything changed. Sometimes I wonder, how often do we feel
like we need to do just the perfect thing or action or step or devo or Bible study or friend group
to try and see Jesus.
And is Jesus just there saying,
hey, I see you.
I see you.
The power and the benefit of feeling seen
can go a long way.
And when I think about this campus,
I think about a campus that is uniquely equipped
to help people feel seen.
And this is a campus that's really really good at it really good at it we hear it all the time
we have students who choose to come here because they want to become a teacher or they want to
become a lawyer or they want to become a doctor or they want to be a physical therapist or maybe
they come here because they want to play basketball but then their experience comes to an end and they
look back and they think, man, I really experienced way more than just the thing that I came here for.
And personally, I would summarize that by saying that's because they got here and they felt seen.
Those of you who are students here, think back on your experience. Who made you feel seen?
I'll tell you personally, I look around this circle and there are a ton of people that in my own story helped me feel seen here.
And it made a huge difference.
That's when everything changed.
Just like it did for the beast.
Just like it did for Zacchaeus.
There's great benefit of helping people feel seen.
So I want to leave you and challenge you with this.
Who saw you?
Maybe tell them thank you.
Who can you see?
Who can you see this fall?
Fun thing is, there's a lot of them that we haven't met yet, right?
And that opportunity's coming.
And lastly, what a reminder of the, what a blessing of the reminder from Zacchaeus.
Jesus sees all of us.
and that changes everything.
Let's pray.
God, thank you for LCU.
Thank you for all of the people around this circle.
Lord, one of the favorite quotes
that I get to hear Scott say often
is pay attention to the people
that you put in our path.
Lord, I pray that we'll do that well.
And just as others have shown us
what it feels like to be seen,
I pray that we can pass that on.
Just like you show us what that feels like, Lord.
Thank you for loving us.
Lord, I pray that wherever we go, we invite your spirit to go with us.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
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