So Close....

I’ve been learning a lot lately about a variety of things. The thing that struck me today as I was having a conversation with staff at a local church and reflecting on a project from last week, the family that we help move due to their recent eviction, was that just about any one of us is a few decisions or a few circumstances away from finding ourselves in a similar situation.

What happens if both my wife and I loose our jobs? What happens if one of us gets an illness or disease such as cancer? What happens if we reach out to someone and help them out financially and it backfires? You could ask just about any question or maybe you’re in an un-anticipated situation right now with no direct fault to your own or because of a few decisions you made. 

These thoughts made me realize the categories and boxes I have put people in for so long. That the poor are poor because they didn’t make the correct choices when they had the chance. That the single mother of 4 should have learned after the first child out of wedlock. The list could go on of the preconceptions and judgements I have made and make everyday. Thinking about this fact is breaking me. I think about how badly I want people to look at me as an individual and not putting me in a box. That I am this middle class, yuppie that drives a nice vehicle that has never had any hardship in his life with the perfect life and the perfect God.

Have you ever thought about what box you would be put in? It’s humbling and wrecking.

As I have chosen to trust God to lead my life into engaging in social issues, He is obedient in showing me everything that I have asked for, and is transforming my soul. As I interact with people that come through NLFW and engage in their story, I am quickly realizing not everything that has happened to them is a product of their doing at any given time and I am a lot like them. The poor could be poor now because they didn’t have health insurance at one time and they had a major illness that has left them in more debt then they could ever repay. Maybe their poor because their spouse walked out on them. Maybe the single mother was abandoned as well. Maybe multiple times. Maybe they’re elderly that have lived a productive life that has a family that won’t help with household chores. These situations are more the truth than the norm of the people that are willing to ask for help than I ever realized.

Question: Should they be left to fend for themselves because a choice they made years ago proved to be the wrong one? Should we not respond to the Great Commission and love them into heaven by serving them and sharing our resources? When we ask for help, do we want a decision made a long time ago be the determining factor in wether or not someone helps us?

I look at my own life and look at the way I use my resources, the decisions I make, my family of origin and their lives,  my consumerism, and have to ask hard a hard question of how close am I to needing someone else to help me? What happens if my house needs a new roof and I can’t afford to have it fixed? Who will help me?

I encourage you to wrestle and reflect on how close you may be to needing the help of someone else. Who will help you?