I've been struck lately with Shane Claiborn'e quote "simple, never easy." To reach out and love someone is almost always simple, but rarely easy. What really gets me about it is I'm always trying to figure out how our church is suppossed to love our neighborhood and how we are to be involved in it, in fact I'm always trying to figure out how I'm personally suppossed to love and be involved in our neighborhood. I always lack creative ways, saying it's very complicated in our context to love our neighbors. That's a bunch of BS and I know it. What we need to do is very simple, but I know it is hard, so I make it complicated so I have an excuse not to do it.
Last night three neighborhood teens stopped by while some of our neighbors were celebrating national roast a marshmellow night over a fire in my backyard. They sat down with us and enjoyed the fire for a few minutes. I asked them if they would be interested in hanging out once a week with me, occasionally sharing a meal, and talking about the Bible, God, and life. They all seemed so interested and they all said they would do it. Loving these kids is so simple, yet I know how hard it is. I pray I can simply love them.
3 comments:
Hey, Kev,
Friendship evangelism is what Brian Mcclaren,s book, MORE READY
THAN YOU THINK, is all about.
Reading it this past week has really opened my eyes to a lot of
how Jesus was a friend to so many people and loved them and developed
relationships with them to show them how much He loved them. I have really been trying to be more
open with those with whom I work
and not be so ready with answers.
I love the answer a question with a
question way of getting people to
talk about God and how they feel about Him. This way of building
friendships takes a lot of time and effort. To me that is the hardest part.
Love you,
Mom
dude... i hope our paths cross again real soon.
wow, your mom read's McLaren too.. very cool. I love being a heretic in man's eyes sometimes (I mean, as long as I'm cool with God).
Anyway, I heard a bit from Mandy about your letter and dirt(?) from Shane. You should blog about that when Lucy gives you a chance.
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