The pain and the possibility
4/28/2009 1:03:08 PM
In the past week I’ve had what feels like the same conversation several times. They are male and female, young and old, near and far, but they all echo the same pain.
The phone rings and a familiar voice (sometimes a friend, sometimes a colleague, sometimes a relative …) says, “Can we keep this confidential?”
“Certainly. What’s going on?”
“I followed all the rules. I am a good person. I’ve never lied, cheated, nor taken anything from anyone. All I want to do is help people. So why am I broke? Why can’t I make payroll? I am working hard but nothing is happening – the hole is just getting deeper. I am disappearing – I am falling – where is God when I need Him? I have always been there to help everyone else – who is going to help me now that I need it?”
The pain is palpable.
The questions are genuine.
The need is great.
At a board meeting recently, one of the Lay Committee members suggested that if we could identify the pain, we could identify the ministry opportunity. There is a lot of truth in that. Our calling as Christians is often found at the crossroads of human need and God’s will. We have the privilege of being the agents of His grace, the ambassadors of His Son, the conduits of His mercy to the broken, the desperate, the lonely and yes, the lost.
So, where is the pain in your part of the world today?
Is it your sister who is sinking beneath the whelming flood?
Is it your spouse who is too ashamed to tell you the money’s all gone?
Is it your parent whose self care is no longer enough and they need parenting themselves?
Is it your neighbor who is choosing tonight between feeding the kids or making the mortgage payment?
Is it the person next to you at the traffic light who is crying so hard they don’t see the light’s turned green?
Is it the “invisible” alien or the foreigner or the stranger in need of a simple smile that reminds them of home?
Is it your co-worker who wonders if there really is a God and if there is, what good is He?
Is it your child’s friend whose life is hell except for the time they spend in heaven with your family?
Is it the person you do not yet know with the pain you cannot yet name with whom God has set a divine appointment for you to keep?
Is it you?
Where is the pain in your part of the world today?
People need grace. People need love. People need hope. People need peace. People need God. And the Father sent the Son. And the Son sends us.
Cliché? Too bad, it’s our calling.
“Go.” That’s what He said.
The world God so loves is waiting for you to be salt and leaven and light.
What are you waiting for?
You have all you need – you have Jesus; you have the power of God’s Holy Spirit; you have all the spiritual resources necessary for the calling to which you have been called in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The pain is real, so is the God with whom all things are possible.
Go with Him.
See you “out there” in the midst of the pain, showing forth the Gospel in Word and deed. – Carmen