Caring For Life

Through the eyes of Jesus
by Martyn Smith

Over the past month and weeks, I have recently been getting footage together for our new film” Looking Through the Eyes of Jesus.”

I do love putting films together, because it means my job is very diverse, seeing and meeting people in situations that I wouldn't otherwise.

I was talking to my wife Zoe and commenting on the fact that before I even get the camera out, that a lot of people I meet for the first time will tell me how special CFL is to them and that whoever the person is looking after them is usually, “the best thing that ever happened to them.”

I have learned that a lot of people say things differently when a camera is on them, and is usually things that they know you want to hear. Therefore, to hear “CFL means the world” not once, not twice, but across the board is a testament to what CFL is trying to achieve.

It is all the more moving to me when I hear this when I turn the camera on, because despite the things that are being said, “for the camera”, the things that are being said that we, and soon you, are privileged to hear make it all the more powerful.

In our latest film, the power of what Caring For Life means to some of the people we look after is almost like a knock out punch to us who know them!

As I watched the latest footage of what people were saying in the interviews, for people to say that CFL means everything to them, isn't something, it's the ONLY thing.

It is such a huge responsibility for us all here as staff, to look after and care for some very damaged and fragile lives.

I have been very moved to see only a glimpse of what our Housing Support team deals with on a day to day basis. Through filming them I've seen terribly tragic and broken lives and desperate circumstances that will continue to be broken and tragic.

In a world where tolerance is enforced, over love and kindness, and political correctness defies the very existence of God, the real tragedy is that increasingly the concept of believing people's humanity is something that we deal with, as opposed to really care about.

I love the names and faces of Caring For Life, and the humanity that runs through this place is probably the most powerful aspect of it all. To be able to look past all the scars and hurt and deal with these people as “who they are” as opposed to “what they were or did” is an amazing thing.

As a staff member here at Caring For Life instead of my reply being “It was hard to look after him or her”, or even that it was us that looked after them at all, I would hope that all of us who work for Caring For Life would say, above all things, that it was a privilege to know them.

Much in the way that Christ looks upon us.