His mug shot tagged on Facebook with comments trailing
beneath and I felt my blood boiling. Words that stung deeply like “waste of
breath”, jokes made about his past, his life, his horrible choices. Barney told
me to put my phone down and not comment. Unjust, judgmental, legalistic, better than
you people make me want to knock heads together.
The hurt go on hurting and the broken keep breaking. The
cycle keeps turning and the lives still being lost and we look around and say, “but
I am ok”, he’s the crackhead. He’s a waste of breath, waste of time. I once
went to a funeral for a young man that died from weather conditions but those
that knew him knew he had an addiction and he died alone, cold, in a park. As I
walked to my car I heard a woman from the church tell a lady she was walking
with, “What a waste”.
You are right, lady. You are a waste. You sit in the church
like a bobble head, go to your car, eat your lunch and go on with life. I know.
I do it too. I too am a waste of resources that I have been given. That young
man was not a waste.
They were “those” people to me too, once. I sat at the funeral
with my sister who had just overcome her own addiction and I wept. I didn’t really
know him, she did. My heart ached so bad when I hugged that mother. I felt
guilty. Why were we spared the devastation and she was not? I am writing this
on my sister’s birthday. She’s married. She has 4 beautiful kids and a husband.
It’s not the end of the story, it’s the beginning of another chapter.
I have been to too many funerals of lives taken too soon. I
heard their stories. I saw their families devastated. I heard wonderful things
they did but an addiction chained them to a life they never set out to live. I vowed never to see them again as “those”
people. They have a face, a name. That is someone’s son, daughter, sister,
mother, and friend.
It’s been many years. I still cannot see them as a waste. I
can only see them as a sister. I stood
in the gas station and watched the young man scramble through the store. He was
nervous. He appeared to be high. I watched him for awhile and walked out to the
car. Barney was outside talking. He talked forever and the young man didn’t
come out. I got some money and went back in. I had seen the cashiers laughing
at him when I left. I was worried he didn’t have enough money for his stuff. He
was checking out when I got there. He was ok. I put the crumpled money in
pocket and I prayed. I prayed for his mother, I prayed for his addiction, I
prayed for his next move, I prayed for his life, I prayed that he would cross
paths with someone that would take his broken life and put the pieces back
together. I know that can only be Jesus. As we drove off I wondered if maybe I
was to say something. I don’t know. I
can still see his sunken in cheeks and green hoodie pulled over his face and I
pray.
Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” 27 The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” 28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
29 But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. 32 So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. 34 He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.’ 36 Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same. – Luke 10
Jesus said
this after he sent the seventy-two out two by two. I think God knew what he was
doing when he put my sister and brother in law together. Two by two. Her birthday is also her husband’s clean date.
God knows what he is doing. Two by two.
I read a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. it says (my
paraphrase), “The Samaritan did not say, like the priest and levite, what will
happen to me if I help this man. Instead, he said what will happen to him if I
don’t.” The Samaritan went on to take care of the beaten man on the side of the
road and take care of his needs.
My sister and her husband have allowed addicts on the road to
recovery to stay with them to get on their feet. Honestly, it has scared me.
They are aware of dangers. They trust Jesus and take it serious when the Bible says
to welcome strangers. They have given warm beds, warms meals and love. They
have shown them that life with Jesus doesn’t mean it’s perfect. They didn’t
beat them in the heads with a Bible. They built a relationship. One accepted
Jesus as his savior recently and the other one began attending
church when he was living on his own. One of the men wanted to know why they helped
him and why people would be willing. Their answer. Jesus. I can't wait for you to hear them tell their story.
I know what Mercy feels like. I have been held by grace when
I deserved so much worse. Who am I to deny it to someone because I don’t like
their choices?
There’s a need here in our community. I asked 200 people to raise their hands at a
recent assembly at a school if they had a friend or family member that was
struggling with a serious drug or alcohol addiction. I couldn’t count the sea
of hands.
Do you know what do you get when you have Catholic Priest
from Africa, a Methodist Pastor from Korea, a home church Pastor, Baptist
Minister, Lutheran Pastor, two recovering addicts, two prevention specialists, and
Christian Church preacher from Arkansas? This is not a joke. This is a ministry
being formed right here in Doniphan County, Samaritan Road to Recovery. We haven’t even made it to all of the churches
yet.
We want to see how we as a church body can come together to
be the Samaritan. Can we offer a ride, a cooked meal, help with a job application,
and teach a skill. What does the cost of discipleship really look like? Does it
cost money, interrupt our journey, or slow us down? Will it be messy? Probably.
Will it be worth? Absolutely.
Can you imagine an army of mothers and fathers, brothers and
sisters, friends and family praying in churches across our community for the
chains to be broken and lives to be restored? A day when we quit pretending
things aren’t happening and tackle them head on. Families will walk in to church
with the nakedness of their struggle and feel the warmth of their brothers and sisters
believing with them in prayer. Church is not for the morally upright and well
to do of our community. Church is for the broken and the sick to be brought to
the feet of the one true healer. Jesus.
Many of us, as family members, have wounds and heartaches as
our loved ones struggle with the addiction. You are not alone. My sister once
told me I was annoying. I would wake up and be so broken all I could do was
pray and call her number over and over. I would worry she was gone. I just
wanted to hear her voice. She said she
couldn’t even do anything that night because of it. We want to pray with you,
families. We know how scary it can be. We know the frustration.
It hurts not to be
able to fix it. I know.
Many of us were raised that other churches were wrong. We
want to argue over little things and discount the big things that matter.
Jesus. By taking the time to listen to the heart of these Pastors I have been blessed to meet, I hear Jesus. We may not worship the same way, we may not take communion the same day, but we believe that Jesus is the way.
"There is no life so wayward, no heart so hard, no soul so dark that it cannot be rescued by the love of Jesus." ~ Jim Morgan (lucky to call him my Pastor)
If we believe Jesus did what the Bible says he did, do what
he said to do, and love like he called us we are brothers and sisters because
of him. We are laying down our denominations and reaching out to the broken.
One of the Pastor’s said at a recent meeting, “If we don’t
start working as a Body of Christ, other religions will do what we are called
to do.” Amen.
My Sister and her husband. 
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