I Saw Jesus

Jeff Butler traveled to Ethiopia with YWAM by invitation from one of Adoption Ministry’s board members in April of 2009. Jeff most delighted in the children and connected immediately with the men and women serving in the orphanages and the streets of Ethiopia. When Jeff returned to the U.S., he and his wife began adoption proceedings and 8 months later, a 5-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy joined their family! Jeff is leading a team from his church on a missions trip in November, 2010.

I Saw Jesus

by Jeff Butler

When was it that I saw Him?

Was it one of the many faces crowded on the busy streets of the teeming city we passed through?

Was it the beggar without legs and without hope, reaching out her hand for a scrap of bread?

Maybe I first saw Him there at one of the many orphanages where children curiously stared at my pale face.

Perhaps I saw Him comforting the dying mother as she said goodbye to her child for the last time.

I’m sure I saw Him holding numerous motherless babies who reached out from their cribs for a touch.

Or was it when two little children arrived from the countryside, no parents, no food, no names, and no clothes?

I know I saw Him more visible and real when, for the first time, I washed the dirty feet of a little orphan boy who is now my son. As I washed this little boy’s feet, I not only saw Jesus but I heard Him speaking to me very tenderly about real ministry and real worship, about real love, about real sacrifice, real giving and real joy. I saw Jesus up close and personal in the many faces of the people of Ethiopia, and my life has been changed forever.

The words of Matthew 25:34-40 became a living reality to me as never before. 

"For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you invited Me in; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” vs. 35-36

Going to Ethiopia has changed my life, my family and my ministry. I thought I was going to help the people of Ethiopia, but God used the people of Ethiopia to help me! I saw the hands and feet of Jesus ministering to the people of Ethiopia through His followers serving, giving and loving. I saw the face of Jesus in the lives of the suffering, the hurting, the broken and the abandoned.

Be prepared to be changed forever when you go to Ethiopia. You need Ethiopia more than Ethiopia needs you!

Jeff (at left) with Ben Hull and five boys at our

Adama Widows and Orphans Home.

Cherinet (far right) is now at home with the Butlers,
along with his sister Beza.