Reflecting on Stolen Porch Furniture

We were away from our house in Homewood for the past couple of days, and when we arrived home tonight we immediately noticed something was different.  Julie was the first to connect the dots... our front patio porch furniture was missing.  Ten years ago we had purchased the two metal padded outdoor chairs from Walmart.  They were old and starting to be very rusty.  The table Julie had purchased just this past year for around $60.  We were instantly saddened by the loss of our front porch furniture, but not for the reasons that people might think.  Stuff is just stuff.  It's all God's stuff... we are just stewards of what God has blessed us with.  The furniture was not very nice, and it certainly won't be hard to replace.  So why were we so sad?

We love our front porch!  We love to sit out there and talk to each other, to our neighbors, to kids from our neighborhood, and to strangers who pass by.  Our children have played for hours on our front steps, on the sidewalk, and on Susquehanna Street (hundreds of street chalk drawings prove it).  We have sat and prayed for Homewood many times on that front porch.  Our front porch represents relationships and community.  In healthy, thriving neighborhoods, people can sit on their front porches without worrying if anything bad is going to happen to them.  Their children play without worries about their safety.  In many struggling urban neighborhoods, people are afraid to sit on their front porches.  People become worried that their furniture will be stolen.  Scared residents keep their children from playing in the streets because the streets are dangerous.

As I look out the window to the front of my house, I see a blank concrete slab where furniture once was.  But... if I allow my eyes to wander a few feet further into the distance, I see all the signs of new homes being built right across the street from me.  One person (or maybe persons) decided to take the furniture from my front porch.  But that's not the last word on matters in Homewood.  God is moving in Homewood.  Many great things are happening, even in spite of the crime that still happens in these streets.  I have great hope, though, because we live in the "now, but not yet."  That means that because of Jesus the Kingdom of God has been set up here on earth, but we live in this Present Evil Age.  Bad things are going to happen, but that doesn't change the fact that God is still at work all over Homewood and he wants to work through his Church to see this neighborhood become the type of place where people can sit on their front porches and children can play in the streets without worry.  Some day soon.  Now, but not yet.  Tranformation seems like such a struggle, but it's so worth it.