A Late Night Visit

This was a long weekend. On Saturday I was at a LAMP cultural training all morning (15 new mentors... woohoo!), and then Julie and I took a whole bunch of kids from Homewood to a Pittburgh Penguins hockey game.  On Sunday I hosted four worship services at North Way Oakland. In between all of those things, we have been investing in four boys in Homewood whose mom passed away suddenly at the end of last week. To say that I was tired when I got home at 9:30pm last night would be an understatement. I just wanted to chill out and relax on the couch. That relaxation time lasted for about 30 minutes, and apparently God wasn't done working through me yet.  Our doorbell rang at 10pm and I looked at Julie and said, "I don't know if I have anything left for anyone right now. Can you check and see who it is?" If it had been a visit from a neighborhood kid for a snack or just a visit to say hi, she would have chatted for a minute and then sent them on their way. Unfortunately, when kids visit us after 10pm it usually means something bad happened in my community... somebody got shot, or they got beat up, or something bad is happening in their home and they have nowhere else to go. In the case last night, one of my mentees who I have been building a relationship with for six years stopped by because he had nowhere else to go. His family was in crisis, and he needed a place to sleep last night. So, tired as I was, I invited him in to stay the night. We fed him and helped him talk through his life circumstances for a little while.

We have built enough trust with many people in our neighborhood that they know that our home is a safe place for them to go if they are ever in need, whether they are hungry or thirsty or homeless or in danger. This is such a crucial component to our faith as followers of Jesus Christ. God desires for all of us to be in relationship with people in need. In Isaiah 58, God says, "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard." God is not interested in a bunch of religous activity from us. True faith involves us giving ourselves away sacrifically to the poor, among many other things. The problem is, we must actually be in deep, meaningful relationships with people in need if we are planning to live out God's call to serve them. If we distance ourselves from the poor due to fear or busyness or anything like that, then we are intentionally missing out on one of the most profound parts of our faith in Christ. Even though my work is difficult sometimes, I experience an amazing connection with Christ when I open my home up to people in need. It brings me tremendous joy to be able to serve others incarnationally as Jesus did.