Ordinary People

So here I am on a plane… the house is packed into a storage unit… new people are living in our house… we have said more good byes than I would like to endure again… and the adventure is underway! Thank you for your prayers and support! Thank you for encouraging us to follow God! The Collies are excited about what God has in store for our lives tomorrow and also stoked to see what God has in store for your life as well. I was reminded of a simple truth about following God this week and I would like to take a moment to remind you as well.

It was Sunday night and we were frantically trying to pack the final details of our home and also attempting to clean behind all the things we never clean behind… aka, the oven, fridge, dryer, etc., when I heard a knock on the back door. Most people knock on our front door or just come in, but not Jeremy. I opened the door and there he was, Jeremy in all of his splendor. He was dressed in basketball shorts and a tank top sort of shirt, his hair a mess. He had dirt all over him and he was standing there with a bucket of fish, yes fish. There were sun fish, bass, and bluegill just piled in a five gallon bucket. I opened the door and he simply said, “you want some fish?”

Jeremy is fourteen. He just got back from about three months in Juvenile hall, his family is broken like a window in an abandoned house, and his brothers are constantly coaxing him to sell drugs and do other stupid illegal things for them. He is a good kid with a good heart who happens to live on my street. Four houses up on the right actually. I met Jeremy a few years ago when he was eleven. I was out mowing one day and he walked up and asked if he could mow my grass for me in exchange for some cash. I said no, but introduced myself and began a simple conversation with him. It was simple and shallow, but I got his name and remembered it. Every time I saw him after that I would simply say hi to him and call him by his name. Over the next few years I would see him and talk to him here and there. He was usually walking down the street to the school with his girlfriend or something. Eventually I found out more and more about him and got a chance to get to know him on a little deeper level. I kind of became his neighborhood counselor. He would come and hang out and talk. We invited him and his sister to eat with us every so often and we simply became his friend. I would sometimes even invite him down to hang out around the fire pit with my friends and I. We would joke and talk about life. He always seemed distant yet hungry for someone to listen, so that is what I tried to do.

So there Jeremy stood, asking if I wanted some fish that he caught. I hadn’t seen him much lately because he was off doing time at juvenile hall, so he didn’t know we were leaving town the next day. So as I broke the news to him that we were moving out of town tomorrow, his shoulders dropped and this looked of sadness swept over his face. He stood there a second, then he spoke. What he said shook me to the bones. He simply looked at me with this sad face and said, “Now what am I supposed to do? This street is going to go to hell. If you take your Christianity and leave, this street is going to hell.”

Sometimes we make Christianity and following Jesus this really hard thing to do. I have been memorizing and studying Romans 12 and there is a verse that simply says, “be okay with spending time with ordinary people.” Jeremy is a kid most people have already written off. He comes from a low-income family that is broken all to pieces, he has been in the system already and done time. He is the “ordinary people” we all come across everyday. It is not always easy or comfortable to hang out and spend time with people who don’t act and smell like you. They may even seem like an inconvenience, but it is our responsibility and calling to be okay with spending time with ordinary people. In doing so, you have the opportunity to share love, encouragement, safety, a listening ear, and truth with them.

My challenge to you and to myself as well, is to live a life for God that has time allotted for ordinary people. And when you spend time with them, love them, listen to them, encourage them, and give them truth. Live in such a way that when you leave they don’t miss you, they miss the love of God you displayed.

Love God. Pray always. Make time to love ordinary people. Keep the faith!