The first communist dominated place that I ever visited was East Berlin. I'll never forget my first experience at seeing the Berlin Wall. My heart broke. There were machine gun towers every two hundred yards. Soldiers in those towers were trained to shoot their fellow countrymen if they attempted to escape to freedom in the West. Seeing that wall was like seeing a giant prison facility. As I prayed, I asked God to somehow open the doors for me to reach the people behind that wall with the gospel.

I couldn't stay in my comfortable surroundings in the West. I discovered that it was possible to get a 24 hour visa and travel from West Berlin to East Berlin. Out of a passionate desire to reach those people, I decided to attempt to cross into the East. I didn't know anyone there. Many times I would ride the train all over East Berlin. As I studied the faces of people, I saw something that I didn't expect. I had anticipated seeing hard, belligerent people with a hatred for Americans. Instead, I saw lonely people with no purpose in life. I began looking at those people through a different set of eyes. I began to see them simply as people - people created in the image of God; people with a need for the Savior.

I would strike up conversations on the train and discovered that the people had a hunger and thirst for meaning and purpose in their lives. At first they were frightened to speak with a stranger. But their hunger to hear about God often overcame their fear of what would happen to them. Many even attempted to protect me.

I learned a great lesson during those early days of my Christian experience. God doesn't look at people as communists, Muslims, Hindus, or even Christians. He sees people as they are in their hearts - lonely and hurting. And He longs to heal and save all people - everywhere. That's why the Bible says that, "When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matt. 9:36 NIV). He loved people as no one has ever loved them.

When we begin to see people through the eyes of Jesus, we, too, will love them as we've never loved them before. We'll not see them with all of the religious or political name tags that the world gives them. We'll see them as God's creation in need of a Savior. The next time you see someone that you or the world around you might consider an enemy, why don't you pray a simple prayer, "Help me, oh God, to see people as you see them." When you pray that way, watch out. You may begin seeing people as you've never before seen them.