thank you for billy

this morning i went for a run and as i left congress street i saw billy. he has not been around here in several months and even as much as he tested our patience, i have missed him. so i am glad he is back. he keeps our fruit trees pruned. he had just been given a plate that was leftover from our dinner last night. every sunday after worship we have a meal together. someone brings the food and everyone gets to eat together. you don't have to do anything to earn the meal, it is free, and we share it with each other. when i got finished running and got back to congress street i didn't see billy but i saw the plate on the sidewalk. it had just been thrown down, food everywhere. just left there in a mess. my first thought was "i can't believe he just left this mess here after we gave it to him!" in the same instant that i suppose God appeared to moses in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush and heard him say "moses, moses, take your shoes off you are standing on holy ground" i bent down to pick the mess up and heard God say "jamie, jamie, you do the same thing to me". yep, i heard it loud and clear. we are given much freely from jesus. we are forgiven much freely too. we don't have to do anything to earn his love, thank goodness for that because i would be in debt forever to him. he gives all of himself freely to us. and what do we do? we take it freely, but often we just decide it is not what we want so we just throw it away. left as a mess for someone else to clean up. left for the one that loves us with no regrets to pick up. but in his pure white hands he scoops down and picks us up out our our mess, our dirt, our gross sin. with no hesitation, ever. billy will be back. and he will probably stretch me like he has done in the past. but when you stretch, you grow. i will continue to love billy, even when he makes it hard, even when he makes a mess. why? because i do the same thing to jesus, and he continues to love me.

two men, two needs, one jesus

we will go is not just about workdays on saturday or service on sunday. it is a an everday being available to share jesus with anyone that you meet. two knocks on the door. one is george. he lives in the rooming house behind us. doesn't have a lot of teeth, dirty a lot of the time, isn't working. he usually comes by for a glass of water or a snack bag. today he needed to use the phone. the other is a very well dressed, clean cut, driving a nice car, man from madison with a donation for the clothing closet. george uses my phone and we talk about a few things he has going on, he's pretty good today. he let me pray over him. then he headed back to his room. the other man and i unload the donation, have small talk, then i ask about his family. next thing i know he is telling me about his college age son who recently had the courage to admit he had some addictions and needed help and is now in a treatment facility. he said "i don't know why i am telling you this", but i know why. in the midst of that hurt i saw in the dad's eye, i saw lots more love. he let me pray over him and for his family. two knocks. two different men. two different worlds. two different needs. but the same ONE gracious, loving, forgiving, all sufficient, merciful jesus.