“ May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
— Hebrews 13:20-21 (NIV)”
Response
A miracle happened tonight as I was driving home from STATUS. It made me want to take back everything I have written about how absurd it seems for us as a broken people to be charged with helping our "less fortunate" brothers and sisters with the junk in their lives. I saw a tiny, old, probably $500 car. Towing a Honda Civic.
At first I thought I was just driving behind a Civic with its lights off (at 9:30 pm) but it accelerated very slowly after the light turned green so I changed lanes to pass it. As I moved to pass, I saw that a car too small to see from behind the Civic was actually bearing the weight of its own load and that of the Civic. It was truly miraculous.
It made me reflect on my maturing ability to reach out and minister to others. And how by reaching back into the bucket of junk that I have experienced and seen in my life, I am able to speak into people's lives and show compassion for people in need of healing.
I have so much garbage I need to get rid of in my own life. But there are times when I am moved to pour love into the lives of others, asking a lot of questions and providing very few answers that I can only hope produce some positive momentum for their lives.
Like the old jalopy towing the Civic, I can be in need of repair myself and still be an instrument of God's healing love for others. And by that same token, I must realize that I cannot bear the weight of another person's burden forever. All I can hope to do is tow a lost person to the ultimate repair shop. And through prayer and thought-provoking conversation and time, healing takes place.
There will always be corporate environments for healing, but I have experienced the most growth by engaging in conversation with small groups of people or simply one-on-one, over coffee. I believe that's why God equips us individually to do His work, to have an impact on one another and grow each other even while we are in need of so much growth ourselves. Amen.