Our family has been deeply effected by our attendance at our church in innercity Springfield. We have been overwhemed by the incredible needs of our people and we have been even more blessed by their love and willingness to accept us as friends. When I look at our group of kids and see their brown, black, and white faces I feel tears of gratitude that God has given us this diverse group to belong to as I have never been a part of such beautiful diversity. It was a HUGE decision for Bob and I to move our family from our "poshy" and somewhat safe, middle class church to an innercity church which has never known "poshy" even at its best. We have all been stretched and stretched some more as we do our best to serve our neighbors.
This past Saturday night we were running on very low "staff" as it is spring break for our local university and we rely heavily on student help. We all went to church knowing it would be a BUSY and tiring night. We had a dear woman, "Deena" who came in seeking help as she was being abused by her husband. Each week brings a family or friend in need of something...we can offer them dinner but only God can provide them with what they REALLY need. God put our group and resources into action and we were able to find a safe place for "Deena" and she will be able to receive proper help and counseling tomorrow. We also have our regulars from the neighborhood who rarely get a home cooked meal and are so pleased to sit and eat and have a conversation...we look forward to seeing them each week. Satan is always ready and waiting in those drafty corners to discourage us and defeat our good intentions but we remind each other to hold on to our knowledge that we know God needs us at Midtown.
Our children see that many of our neighbors do not have cars, beds to sleep on or do not have drywall on their walls, some do not even have electricity, they KNOW it is not safe to walk anywhere by themselves as our neighborhood turns into a drug infested area after dark...but what they DO SEE is that these friends want what we want...the love and acceptance of Christ. People say, "nothing is free" but we have the good news of Jesus Christ and it is ABSOLUTELY FREE!! After an exhausting night we came home to decompress and thank God for pushing us to show up each week and help our dear friends, even if it is just sharing a cup of "not so great" coffee.
