It’s inevitable that while out on the World Race your life
intersects with others in such a way that it’s nearly impossible for both of
you to walk away unchanged. My
experience on the World Race yielded a lot of new friendships and many of which
I’m sure will last me a lifetime. Our
October squad spent the last month in Kenya doing ministry. It was a great learning process and
introduction to Africa for all of them.
But I don’t think they were planning on Allen.
Allen was a street kid that a few of the girls randomly ran
into. He had a massive wound on his hand
that settled on the verge of infection and they decided to clean him up. Fortunately in the process, these girls were
wrecked and a story unfolded. Throughout
a few weeks’ time, Allen no longer lives on the streets, he has a home, he has
a church, he has clothes, and he has a future all because these girls decided
to… well… be like Jesus.
You can read his story here in these ten chapters written by
Marisa Banas.
1.
Hello Allen
2.
Soap
3.
The Bus
5.
The Meeting
6.
Town
7.
The Big Guns
8.
Waiting Game
9.
Free-Falling
10.
Home
Or, if you don’t want to read a short story, you can watch the
video at the bottom of the page.
What’s it going to take for us to reach out to people like
this here in America when, unlike the October squad, we do have every resource available to us? What’s it going to take for us to walk a
homeless man off the streets and help him get back on his feet? If we’re to take care of orphans and widows
in their distress (Jm. 1.27), how come in America we resort to old folks homes
and foster care that oftentimes results in abuse?
The scary part is I think we know the answer and it’s not
something we necessarily want to accept.
Who really wants to invest a greater part of themselves into someone
they don’t know? Maybe it’ll require
something on our part, maybe we might make a new friend, perhaps we’ll have to
spend time with them when we don’t want to, etc. Jesus didn’t
say loving others was easy.
Let’s get over ourselves and start changing the world like
these girls. You can always start here.
