Grace and other stuff…

So today was another crazy and pretty cold day in downtown Omaha. Lots of food, snowball fights and much fellowship. The kids and "big kids" were in a snowball battle the entire time we spent on that corner and I do believe the little kids came out on top. As I looked at a few of the "big kids", that became readily apparent. There’s something about snowballs that have an equalizing effect on just about anyone. And they are so darn tempting. No way you can be outside in this weather and not pack a good one and blast someone. No way. So it was cold, a bit windy and oh, yeah pretty cold, but it was a blessed day to be sure. People were raving about the white chicken chili and there was plenty for take home. Just a great day downtown.

I spent several hours yesterday with a neighbor family sorting clothing in our garage. They were more help than they will probably ever know. We’ve been so blessed lately with clothing and other donations that we are seriously considering renting a storage shelter for seasonal stuff. We had piles as tall as me. Now I know that’s not saying much considering my height, but it was really weird to look and see my entire garage floor covered in various types of clothing. I simply cannot believe the amounts of clothing we get weekly. And there is exponentially more women’s clothing than men’s. Not sure what that tells me, but I’m sure there’s a message in there somewhere. But it was great to be able to spend time with our neighbors and it was great to have the help. I am beginning to get an idea of what thrift stores must experience with all these donations. I just pray that God keeps sending them. It’s a challenge for me because I have issues with clutter. I’ll make sure that I never let that get in the way of our friends being supplied with whatever they need or whatever God sends our way. The weird thing about some of this for me is seeing all this stuff continue to arrive in a fairly constant stream. We are definitely being supplied. No doubt about that. He just keeps making it happen so that we can focus on the important stuff. At least that’s how I see it.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago the story of Wade’s Christmas stockings. I was talking to a fellow today who was very impressed how that whole situation played out. He is a fellow that we’ve known for quite a while now and he was in great shape today. He’s just a really nice guy, but more often than not, when we’ve seen him recently he hasn’t been in the best of shape. Today however, he was in great spirits and he looked great. So we had a brief conversation and one of the things he mentioned was how impressed he was with this family. Wade’s family. He mentioned that some people would have major issues with the very people that Wade was running with. That most people would be playing the blame game. That if he wouldn’t have been running with these guys, drinking and whatever else, that maybe things would be different. But not these folks. They took it the other direction. And he kind of stumbled over his words because he said he didn’t know the word for that kind of behavior. I told him that was grace. Undeserved, unearned, unmerited grace. And he looked at me and said yeah, that’s what it was. And to see how the whole thing impacted him caused me to stop and think. Grace. Freely given. Unearned. Undeserved. Unbelievable.

One other thing happened and it was another one of those one on one interactions. Those are the ones that are hardest for me on Sundays. It seems that I get pulled in so many directions sometimes that I am thankful God blessed me with a full blown case of adult attention deficit disorder. Now I’ve never really been diagnosed as such, but I’m sure it’s real. So when I get an opportunity to force myself to slow down, literally, cool stuff usually happens. And it’s usually the quick, brief conversations. For instance, I was talking to a fellow last week who is trying to get it all together. He recently started working, but is currently living in his car. Trying to stretch out his money to last until he gets a paycheck. I think we’ve helped him get a coat and other things recently. Last week he went to his car and came back to show me his uniform. He’s working as a server at a local establishment. Today, he was going to get it for me again, but I told him I saw it last week. No need. Today he needed black dress shoes. Size 11. And dress socks. Just so happened to have both. Imagine that. Funny how that works sometimes. And he said it’d been six months since he had a place of his own. And now he was close. So close. But the thing he said that caught my attention had to do with his faith. Or lack thereof. He said, in so many words, he wasn’t a religious guy, but we were showing him something different. Not me. Not Robin. All of us. All of us that show up there week after week. With no strings attached. We were showing him something. I hope he sees Grace. And Love. And Compassion. Loads and loads of it. And not from us. Because I told him right away that it ain’t about us. But that’s what he sees. Something different. I just pray that we can be an example to him. That when he sees us, he sees a tiny sliver of God. That we would be so stinking transparent that he would see right through us. No pretenses. No strings. Only Hope. Love. And Grace. And I’m just so thankful that God has allowed us to be on that corner every week. Hopefully showing a few people a little something different. A little Love out loud. :)

The following is something that was part of a devotional this past week. It just spoke to me and I wanted to share:
Christianity is not a designer religion. God is serious about getting us on His agenda. One of the famous prayers that goes around today is "Jesus, come into my life and make me the person that you want me to be." We find that the person that God wants us to be is someone who engages the world with His truth. One of the sins of this generation is to make religion a private thing. It never was meant to be private, and the discomfort of making our faith public proclaims God's control in our lives. Do we shrink from this? Then who is in charge? You don't have to buy a bullhorn or pass out tracts, but you do need to stand out as one who is ready to acknowledge Jesus to those around you. Jesus doesn't hold back on this truth and neither should we.
Since God chose you to be the holy people whom He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ~ Colossians 3:12, NLT

Peace, have a great and blessed week and make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)