Step Into The Mess

 

Good morning, and welcome to another Thursday Thought.

 Ginger Sprouse is a typical suburban woman living with her husband in an upscale neighborhood in the Houston area.  Some years ago, Steve Hartman with CBS News interviewed Ginger and her husband for one of his “On The Road” segments that airs each Friday at the end of the evening newscast.  The reason for the interview?

Well, it seems that Ginger had always had thoughts of the homeless that she saw regularly that were not kind at all, but rather were condescending and critical.  In the interview, she told Steve Hartman that she often would say demeaning things to them.

  “I would say, ‘Why don’t you get a job?  Or, what’s your problem?’  It made me very uncomfortable.  I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. I’ve been that way my whole life.”

 Ginger had the same attitude toward the homeless as most of us.  We look on the homeless as somehow less than fully human, less than honorable, less than worthy of the dignity and respect every human is due.

How many of us have said the same thing as Ginger, if not directly to a homeless person, at least we thought that line…”Why don’t you get a job?  What’s your problem?”  It’s so easy for those of us who have managed to stay in the middle class to be critical and condescending toward those who are in poverty or are homeless.  We like to think that we’ve made life good for ourselves, and that anyone else could do the same if they’d only put themselves to the task and work their way out of poverty and off of the street.  We believe that their issue is laziness or a lack of desire to succeed.  We point to all of the social services that are available, which our tax dollars pay for, and wonder why they don’t take advantage of them.  We notice their missing teeth, their unkempt appearance and musty body odor and move away from them as much as we can.

 So, why did Hartman interview Ginger Sprouse?  Because she had a change of heart.  She repented of her superior attitude and decided she wanted to do better.  Acting on the decision she made, she befriended a man she had regularly seen on a street corner, first stopping just to talk.  She asked him to tell his story.  His mother, he says, abandoned him when he was yet a child, and he had been in and out of homelessness since that time.  Ginger couldn’t get him out of her mind, and began making regular trips to stop and just visit with him.

 One late fall day when she visited him, she said she decided she couldn’t just leave him there on the street in the cold.  She went home, talked with her husband, and invited Victor Hubbard into their home.  And that was the beginning of a new life for Victor.  They helped him get the social services he needed, medical appointments, and all the rest.  Victor now is working two jobs and is a lifelong member of the family.

Ginger’s life and outlook on life and on people changed as well.  In the closing segment of the news piece with Hartman, Ginger says this about her experience.  “Life is messy.  But if you’re going to love other people, you have to be willing to step into their mess.  My whole life I’ve wanted to avoid that, and that’s why I rolled the window up and didn’t look.”

 “If you’re going to love other people, you have to be willing to step into their mess.”  Ginger Sprouse knows what it’s like to step into someone’s mess.  Ginger Sprouse knows what it’s like to get out of her comfort zone.  Ginger Sprouse knows what it’s like to love other people.

We have known for centuries that the God who created us expects us to love others.  The Torah is explicit in the book of Leviticus. 

 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

 At least seven more times in the New Testament, Jesus, Paul the Apostle, and James repeat this command to love others.  And Jesus expanded what it meant to love one’s neighbor by telling the story of the Good Samaritan, who saw to the needs of a man he didn’t know and whose nationality should have been reason enough to ignore his plight.  Nevertheless, he cared for the man as best he could and saw to his needs.  The Samaritan stepped into someone’s mess.

 Are you willing to step into someone’s mess?  Are you willing to have a change of heart?  Are you willing to truly love your neighbor?  You don’t have to take in a homeless person in order to love your neighbor unless you know that is your calling.  There are hundreds of ways you can demonstrate and emulate the love of Jesus.  Your neighbor is hurting.  You can help by stepping into his mess.

 Blessings.

 

Anticipating the Blessings

 

Good morning!  It’s a cool day today, but it promises to be a pleasant day as well.  We need rainfall desperately, and are grateful for God’s provision of the storage of good water underground in many places which help mitigate the shortage of water from the heavens.

 As I posted in social media a few days ago, on November 4 of this year I will no longer be an instrument of the Kansas Secretary of State.  My notary commission expires the day before, and I will not be renewing.

 I first became a notary 28 or so years ago during my time in health care.  It was a handy thing to have at that time.  Even after my career in that field was over, it has been nice to have the ability to help friends, relatives, and neighbors who needed some document notarized.  But there comes a time when even a good thing must end, and that time has come for me as a notary.

 In the course of my later years and my retirement from secular work, I have discontinued or reduced several things in my life that have become more burdensome, less fulfilling, or more difficult to do.  I no longer crawl under houses to fix water pipes, crawl in attics to run electrical circuits, or crawl under cars to change the oil.  My days of working in EMS are over.  I no longer walk behind a push lawn mower, even in a small yard.  And, although I still drive at night, it is somewhat more of a challenge, and I don’t relish the thought of doing so.

 I still will get on the roof of my house, but now I make sure my wife or someone else is with me when I do.  I still like to do things out in the garage where I’ve set up my work space.  But I limit myself more now than I did some years ago regarding how much I lift or how I deal with things that could be somewhat dicey regarding my safety.  I’m just not as nimble and quick as I used to be.

 As it is with these things, so it is with the notary commission.  There just comes a time when it is right to shed this or that thing that one has held onto for many years.  For me, the notary was something that is a reminder of how things used to be…of a life in the past.  I suppose that as we get older, we tend to think back perhaps a little more often to those times in the past when we were more active, more engaged, and more eager.  At least I do that.

 When I was growing up, my grandfather lived in the same community as we.  He was in his 90’s and in generally good health for his age.  We would visit often, and I sometimes stayed the day at their place.  I wondered why he liked to talk about the old days so much when there was so much going on in the present age.  That present age was the early to mid 1960’s, and there was much happening in those days.  The space race, the expansion of peaceful use of the atom, the assassination of President Kennedy, the Civil Rights movement, the development of the electronic integrated circuit, and the Cold War, as well as local issues filled the days.  Yet he would much rather have talked of times in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s as they lived on the prairies of Nebraska and Kansas.

 And I too find myself longing at times to talk with people much younger than I am about my earlier days.  I’m beginning to understand my grandfather’s penchant for harking back to the old days.  He just wasn’t that concerned about the world situation.  Oh, he kept up with things, knew what was going on, and was conversant in many areas of his modern day.  His mind was sharp and he knew what was happening.  But his concern wasn’t so much the Iron Curtain as it was his relationship with God, and the both physical as well as spiritual welfare of his family.  And I believe that because he genuinely was looking forward to his transition into the eternal presence of his creator, the things of his present day, whether good or bad, didn’t bother him much.

 There’s a lesson in there for us.  Yes, we need to be aware of our surroundings.  We need to know of some of the things in the world that are pressing in one way or another.  We need to know because we need to be salt and light in that world, being the hands and feet of God as He redeems the creation one act of kindness…one act of compassion…one act of forgiveness at a time.  To do that, we need to have an awareness of the present situation.

 But our true longing…our true desire as Christians…should be our desire to see the face of the one who loved us to the point that he died on our behalf, making us righteous and blameless when we appear before Him.  So, as we gradually shed those things of the world from our lives…those things that may well have been good things…that we may well have once enjoyed or that brought us satisfaction…we know our lives aren’t becoming empty and void…they are just being filled with an anticipation of what is yet to come.  We can recall the old days with fondness and gratitude, and can look ahead to finishing the race and entering into the joy of the Kingdom of God.

 Blessings,

Reflecting Joy

 

Good morning!

 Our church has a Bible study every Thursday morning.  There are quite a few people who gather for the study…most are retired.  The study is led by one of our members…a retired minister.  Doug is his name.  On the days of the study, Doug comes in early and sets up his powerpoint and streaming for those who cannot be here in person.  He was in the class room today doing just that when I went in the room and walked past him, greeting him as I went.

I paused for a moment as I greeted him, and we exchanged the usual pleasantries.  He then asked me how I was doing in a way that told me he wanted a real answer rather than the usual “fine.”  I told him I was doing OK and that things were going well, but I was a little tired due to long days the past couple of days.

He then told me that I didn’t have any “spring” to my step, which was why he asked.

I jokingly retorted that I haven’t had any “spring” to my step for many years and went on my way.

However, later on I thought about our short conversation.  Did Doug really spot something in my demeanor that suggested to him that I was perhaps less than “fine?”  Am I really “doing OK?”  And what about that “spring” in my step that has been missing for some time now?  Do I possibly need to work on changing my presentation to others?

I really am doing OK today.  I’m looking forward to tomorrow and the weekend, but really, I’m doing OK today.  Oh, I have the usual aches and pains of older age, but they are minimal today, and in any event are manageable if they should flare up.  I’m not a  happy-go-lucky, outgoing, gregarious person by nature, and I normally have something on my mind that I’m trying to think through or resolve.  Maybe that shows in my demeanor and how I present myself to others.

Or maybe I’m just overthinking this.

Regardless, I received a reminder this morning that other people do see us in certain ways, and some of those people care enough to ask in a more serious way if all is OK.  And I was reminded that my presentation…how I look to others…is important.  Do they see someone who is constantly in an apparently beat-down, tired, and cranky mood?  Or do they see someone who is thankful for the gift of life and the ability to be and do as much as is possible?  In simpler terms, do I go around with a half-empty glass or a half-full glass?

I don’t know that I need a spring in my step…I don’t know if I’ve ever had a spring.  But perhaps I do need to show my thankful and grateful heart just a little more.  I can be more intentional in greeting others with a smile and more hearty “hello.”  I can walk in a way that doesn’t make it seem like I’m carrying a 50 pound burden all the time.  I can be more careful in the things I say, keeping to myself things that may be, or appear to be negative.

When I do these things…when I smile a little more, walk a little more upright, and be more circumspect as well as encouraging and positive in my speech, I’m not being fake.  I’m choosing to present a side of me that is inherent within, but doesn’t often come out.  I’m choosing to make the lives of others a little better for having come into my sphere of influence.  I’m choosing to let goodness and kindness show up in my life.

As a Christian, I have been given the most marvelous and unfathomable of gifts…the gifts of freedom, life, and forgiveness.  I need to let my body know that, and as a result reflect the joy of those gifts.

Blessings…

Choose Joy

 Good morning!

 In the work that goes on here at RiverWalk Church in downtown Wichita, we often encounter what some might call the less pleasant aspects of our society.  Those less pleasant things are well-known…homelessness, addictions, violence, hunger, and poverty.  No, we aren’t in a particularly impoverished area.  The office building next door is one of the premier office buildings in the city.  The Drury Broadview is a block away, as is Century II, the Garvey Center, and other well-known places.  RiverFront stadium is only three or so blocks from us.  And Exploration Place and the main library are just across the river.  The river…the Arkansas River, is adjacent to the back of our church lot.  There’s a bridge that takes 1^st Street across the river about 100 feet from our building.

We see the things I’ve described above.  The homeless camp out under the bridge and in nearby parks.  There are ample opportunities for drug deals in secluded places not easily observed.  The hungry and the poor are just outside the door.  And there is violence from time to time…assaults, gunshots, and so on.  We encounter the seamier aspects of society quite regularly, and understand that those things…and the people who are involved in those things…are part of our neighborhood.  Our desire is to interact with our neighborhood in ways that will bring about redemption, regeneration, and wholeness to the neighborhood.  We’ve tried many things, and at times have succeeded in working with one or two or three of our neighbors.  However, as we look, we see so much need and so few resources that we wonder if what we are doing is making any difference at all.

I correspond rather regularly with a friend, Kendra Brookhuis.  Kendra, an author and stay-at-home mom, lives in Milwaukee Wisconsin with her husband and kids in a part of the city that in at least some ways mirrors the downtown Wichita area surrounding RiverWalk Church.  They moved to that area intentionally in an effort to be “salt and light” to a neighborhood that is less than a pleasant place to live at times.  Additionally, the school where her husband teaches and her kids attend is right across the street from their home.

Recently, we exchanged thoughts about the neighborhoods where we find ourselves…she at home and I at work.  We both have times of joy when we’re able to help someone, but we both lament that there is so much unmet need.  Kendra wrote recently and said this about the need she sees and the work of God’s redemption.

“We find ourselves constantly living in the tension of sacrificing for the sake of our block, and knowing we’re only human.  I see things on social media that say ‘Changing the world for one person…changes the world.’  I know deep in my heart to believe this, and yet I also want change for many.  Change faster.  This is where choosing joy over bitterness can be a daily battle for me, but a necessary one.  I want others to see the joy to be found in Christ…at the same time my default is often lament.”

I can relate to Kendra, and I’m guessing some of you can relate as well.  Days, weeks, and sometimes years go by with no noticeable change in “how things are,” even though many, including ourselves, have poured time, resources, and energy into making a difference.  We sometimes take a step back and wonder if we’ve made any headway at all.  And we begin to develop a kind of cynicism and yes, even the beginnings of bitterness, as we look in vain for sprouts of redemption and renewal.

As Kendra said, we have a daily choice to make.  Will we choose the joy of living in the forgiveness and blessings of God, or will we choose to harbor disappointment and bitterness because we can’t do as much as we’d like to do.  You know, it’s really about submission, isn’t it.  Submission to the will of God, living in His glory rather than stacking up successes for ourselves and glorying in how much we are able to do.

I am reminded of how many followers Jesus had when he hung on the cross.  Even Peter betrayed him in his hour of need.  I am also reminded that even after his resurrection, apparently, there were no more than about 120 of the faithful, awaiting him.  Three years he spent teaching, healing, comforting, and revealing himself to the world, and he ended up with the twelve and a few hands full of other followers.

In our lifetime, we may be the instrument of God in the redemption of just a few precious souls.  Not all of us can be successful evangelists.  Not all of us can go on mission to other nations of the earth, teach, and make disciples.  Not all of us can gather a crowd eager to hear the Gospel of Jesus.  But we can choose to live in joy and submission to the God who created us and who loves us and who chooses us to be the salt and light in the places we go and in the hearts of those he chooses to send our way.

Choose joy.  Choose submission.  Choose thanksgiving.  Choose love.

 

Blessings,