Burning Furnace of Charity

I went yesterday to see Cristal. Unfortunately, the man who told me he'd take me to her (she's staying at his house) pulled a tricky move and snuck away from me. It was very intentional, and it made me feel all sorts of things: anger, frustration, dissapointment, sadness.... There aren't a lot of reasons why this guy wouldn't want me to see Cristal, especially when I'm bringing gifts to her and the baby he's allegedly caring for. It left me to wonder what's really going on, and if I'll ever see the baby at all. There is a lot of shady business that happens in this neck of the woods; it's my prayer that Cristal and her baby are far from any of it.

I sat with a woman named Delila the other day. This woman is absolutely beautiful - she's in her 50's, and I dream of having skin like hers. She has children that are grown and even grandchildren, and it's clear that everything she does is for them. She has tears in her eyes every time we talk about them. When we talked on Saturday, she told me about some other "Christian" women who come into BT sometimes. She said one of them tells her, "You're fat! You're so fat. And do you know why? Because the devil is with you!" As my jaw sat on the ground from shock, she said, "that's why I don't like to go to church with them."

"Well, Delila," I said, "you know that's not true. God thinks you're beautiful and He loves you..." I continued to try and counter all those awful things that had been said to Delila.

"Oh, I know He loves me and I'm beautiful. The devil is with her!" Delila said very confidently. I was relieved that no damage was done to Delila's psyche. But then she asked me, "Kelly, what religion are you? You're different from them." It made me feel glad that she saw a difference, but sad that that was the Christian she had known. I told her no religion, that I just try to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. We talked about how a lot of people say that, but if they're not filled with His love, then it doesn't really count.

The Gospel is really simple, isn't it? "The kindness of the Lord draws us to repentance" the Bible tells us. And we are simply called to share the same kind of life-changing kindness wherever we are - listening to our neighbors, sharing life with them, telling them what we know God says about them, how He dances and sings over them. Sometimes we see the "results," and sometimes we don't. But when we really follow Jesus in His revolution of kindness, we find ourselves changed and different.

!viva la revolucion!