Cold

It's been way too long since I've posted anything. And that's kind of a problem, I suppose, and perhaps for two reasons: 1. I haven't been writing much lately in general, and 2. I haven't been living enough to have enough worth writing about.

Thankfully, I have something to write about now.

Last Wednesday was a very cold day here. I was walking back to the dorm from my 3D Design class, which is in a building that is off campus. By the time I started nearing the dorm, I was already losing the feeling in the tips of my fingers. About that time my phone started ringing and, though I am normally very bad about ever answering my phone, I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that it was my roommate. He cut straight to the chase: "It's just too cold today to let homeless people in Jackson sleep outside."

That's kind of a slap in the face, I suppose. Here we are: typical, middle-class Americans, bundled up in our jackets and complaining about having to be outside for just a little while before we are able to go back into our houses and thaw out. And yet, whether we want to realize it or not, the bitter reality that there are people that do not have a place to go to and warm up still exists.

Ah... Blissful, ignorant capitalism.... Where sometimes the American Dream for one man is the American Nightmare for another...

So of course I agreed to go along with him. We got into Jackson and started looking for people. It's kind of an awkward thing to do, really. For one thing, you're not sure what to do if you actually see someone. You kind of have to force yourself to say, "We're going to bring the Kingdom of God here," instead of, "They looked like they didn't need it; we'll keep looking." And for another thing, it's awkward to "go looking" for homeless people. And that's something me and Parker talked about in the car. We talked about our motivations. Is it right to "go look" for homeless people to serve, instead of trying to build relationships and friendships with them? We came to the conclusion that, obviously, building friendships across socio-economic barriers is most important, but that doesn't change the fact that if we were to try and serve someone who is in desperate need of help and that person found out we were doing it for the wrong reason, that person wouldn't say, "Oh, no. I'm not going to accept your help if you're doing it to feel good about it." The fact is, whether we are serving others for the right reason or not, it doesn't change the fact that people NEED to be served.

I say all of that because sometimes I fear that the American church is "waiting" to get all of their motivations in order before they go out and do something. And I believe that that is just the American church deceiving itself so that they don't have to stop being lazy. We don't need to work so hard to practice what we preach; maybe we just need to preach what we practice. We need to start actively trying to bring the Kingdom of God to the destitute places on our planet and I believe that, as we do that, the Kingdom of God will then start to grow within the destitute places in our own hearts.

So eventually Parker and I saw a guy in tattered clothing standing on the street corner of the bypass holding a sign that said "Nashville." The rationalizations set in: "He needs a ride to Nashville, not a room to stay in for the night." But we decided to put the rationalizing aside and talk to him. So we pulled into an old parking lot nearby and trekked up to the highway to meet him.

His name was Robert.

And he liked to talk.

He had a dog named "Moo" in his cart. He talked about how tough things had been lately. He was playing with his sign in his fidgeting fingers as he spoke, and I saw that the other side of "Nashville" said "Hungry," and I knew that we were doing the right thing. Robert eventually started talking about his religious beliefs. He had some beliefs that were really, really out there. But we just tried to listen understandingly. After standing outside on the highway with him for about 30 minutes, he finally agreed to come with us and let us get him a room at the nearby Days' Inn. When we got back into the car, I realized that I couldn't even feel my face because of how blistering cold the wind had been on the bypass.

And to think that he had been out there all day, and would have been all night.

So we checked Robert into the Days' Inn. He shook our hands, and said, "God bless." Parker returned the blessing, and Robert said, "Oh, he does bless me! He has blessed us all with the ability to just repent. That's why I'm so glad that Jesus came! He lets me turn from my past, and turn towards him. Baptism is about repenting, you know. Not just getting sprinkled, but being fully submerged and coming up to a new life in God. And I'm so thankful for that!"

I just smiled.

Parker and I got back into the car and bowed our heads to say prayers for Robert. I started to pray for him and how glad I am that God puts opportunities in our lives to bring the Kingdom here in someone's life, even if only for a night. And Parker prayed for blessings on Robert's life. And when we both said, "Amen," there was a knocking on the car window and, a little startled, we looked up and saw that Robert had been standing there the whole time. He had a huge smile on his face and just said, "Amen!"

Amen, God. Your Kingdom come. Amen.