West End Stories 003 | David Miranda

At a young age, a love capable of refusing egotism, capable of forgetting self-interest for the sake of others was demonstrated to me. It was through the noble sacrifices of my mother that I perceived that the human being is capable of loving without scruple and indiscriminately.

It was through an entire life before my own that I surmised that earthly glories, though pleasing, render themselves insatiable in light of the eternal. It was the devotion and submission of my father, who in leaving behind secular accompishments, deemed more value to lives intrinsically abounding in hope yet oblivious of it.

In January 2009, I decided to forgo the known and embark on a journey to a country faraway in which I would become a stranger to all. It was, then, in solitude that my eyes were opened to the permanence of God, " If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, behold, you are there." Even in the uncertainties and the distress that life presents us in the form of incessant changes, in God I unearthed a perpetual constant and an unalterable anchor.

It would be reductionist to recount that life has granted me only beautiful moments, uninhibited from anguish and absent from pain; yet, it has been through affliction through which my soul has discovered bridges that unite me to my fellow man. We, as humans, live pursuing relief from various sufferings through diverse means, yet the deserts shaped by brokenness only bloom when we find repose and solace in God.

This is the message, which we have conveyed to thousands of people from thousands of different backgrounds: that life is more than existence, that to live is Christ, and that in Him subsists purpose. The interactions and stories that have enriched my life in these 5 years will remain to me innumerable. Only through the provision and grace of God, have we been able to provide more than 35,000 meals to indigent individuals, in both physical as well as spiritual poverty.

I understand that there remain ample revelations yet to experience in this life, and in each one I am allowed to live, it is my aspiration: to live a life worthy of being called a life, rich with purpose, remote from selfishness and founded its essence in humility, loving and existing as an example, by living as the One who loved us first. “As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.”

West End Stories | David Miranda