Welcomed Home

After one year away, I've been back at Rising Hope United Methodist Mission Church for a week now... it feels like I never left.
There are changes, sure. Many improvements in the church itself, new faces, old faces (that I had never encountered) resurfacing... but the mission is the same, and the love and heart of these people is the same.

Some of the friends I told you about last summer aren't around now... one has gone home to Jesus, another is incarcerated, others - well, who knows? Some are the same as always...

Remember my good friend who spent most of his time loitering on the corner drunk? You know, the one who 'gots my back?' He's still around and still drunk - but boy was he ecstatic to see me! I got to talk to him yesterday, and although his eyes were bloodshot, his speech a little slurred, and he reaked of alcohol, he shared his heart. He told me, "Now, Bekah... I don't have much. But what I have, I give you. I give you my best. I give you my love... Anybody ever mess with you? They come through me. Anybody ever try to hurt you, they come through me. You get me, Bekah? I give you my best. I give you my love." He may be a poor alcoholic... but he's a baptized believer and brother in Christ. He may not be worthy of the world's attention, but he's worthy of God's love.

Tears were brought to my eyes a handful of times this week as I was greeted again and again by old friends. Each surprised, excited look of recognition and following warm embrace was a confirmation of God's placing me here. I was told that it was great to have me back... wonderful to have me home... it's so good to see me again... "God is so awesome to bless us with you again..." It's humbling, because I know that these people are impacting me far more than I can do for them...

What can I do for the man who came here from another country with his family? He is educated, and was successful, had his own company... one day he was driving an employee and was pulled over. His employee was carrying drugs, but because he was driving the car, he was arrested, too. When he was released from prison, he had lost everything. His wife and family were gone, his house had foreclosed, his degrees stripped from him, his company no longer...

What can I do for the man with a PhD. and an M.D. who is now a homeless alcoholic? He has two broken feet. He was picked up by an ambulance twice this week because he almost died laying outside in the 100 degree weather...

What can I do for my good friend who was abused by the police? Racially profiled and suspected of using drugs, so he was unjustly arrested and beat up to the point he was hospitalized, when he was innocently out for a walk and didn't have an ounce of illegal substance on him...

I learned last summer that I can't fix their greatest physical struggles or deepest hurts, but God has called me to love them. That's what we do at Rising Hope, and that's why God has called me back. We accept them as they are, and help however we can... and sometimes all we can do is share the love of Jesus - yet that is the most powerful thing.

"This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us." 1 John 4:10-12