Homeless?

The following is an interruption of the two previous blog posts.  The delay in posting the next in that series is representative of what God is doing in my life.  Reminding me that "when Jesus Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die" (to my plans, purposes, etc) and that includes dying to when I want to post my blog.  So I will post the third in that series soon but today was a day that God needed to be celebrated and admired as He has been busy this week in our lives.

This has been an adventerous week.  If God had asked me Monday morning what I thought we needed this week as a family,  'adventurous' would not have been the word I would have selected.  Relaxing, maybe; productive, likely; calm, certainly.  For though I remain thankful for our Africa experience, the thrill of adventure is not what I am really searching for right now.  I just want decisions made, lists checked off, friends seen, and to prepare to move WITHOUT INCIDENT.  But the Lord wanted an adventure for us instead.

Monday evening we were in the front room of our apartment for a couple of hours.  When we rose to go to bed around 10:15, Hannah went to her room.  Tim and I heard her scream.  Now screaming is not unusual in our house of four girls and one man, but this was an unusual scream, that made us want to run and see.  We entered the bedroom (which she shares with her sisters) and to our dismay, water was pouring out of the ceiling.  The carpet was saturated with water and effects were spreading across the ceiling.  Within 30 minutes, the ceiling began to fall out, soaked pieces of sheet rock.  The water spread across most of the ceiling. This was the second water leak in the apartment in a week.  We have significant allergies to mold.  We could see mold growing on the exposed ceiling beams.  No wonder our upper respiratory systems have been a mess this spring.

So the short end to this story is that Wednesday morning we had to have movers come and pack our apartment up and put everything in storage to protect our belongings from the moisture.  We completed the process Thursday and are fully moved out.  Rachel and Maggie went out of town on Sunday.  They were expecting to come home to our apartment.  Instead of that, they are coming home to us being completely gone from their home, all of their belongings in storage and us living in a friend's home.  That is quite an adjustment.  so it has been an adjustment, a shock to our systems, as we had different plans for our week.  We were not planning to be without a home, otherwise known as homeless.

We are not feeling the full weight of that reality because we have generous friends who have welcomed us into their home, insurance that is offsetting costs of a sudden move, and salary coming into the bank.  Even so,  it is a little weird to not have a "home" of our own.

Yesterday morning I read in Matthew 8 about Jesus saying "foxes have holes, the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of man has no where to rest his head," and I thought about his understanding of being without a home.  I felt a small, almost imperceptible amount of comfort, a warm moment that lasted a millisecond, Jesus understood our feelings.

A little while later, while Hannah and I were running errands, we met some new friends.  Mom Zambia with her 4 children were put by God into our path.  We got to spend some time with them for a few hours - delightful, polite, well mannered and loving as a family, humble, and on a mission to find mom a job.  Guess what?  It turned out, as we got to know each other, that this family (dad too, who was at work) was in transitional housing (i.e. was in a homeless shelter and is transitioning, seeking to move into independent life). As she told her story, I learned a few important things I thought I'd share.

First, Jesus is the friend to the homeless.  Though I had experienced some displacement this week with my family, he cared enough for me to show me true homelessness and to teach me that I really have no idea all the hardships that go with the life that brings.  I only have Jesus to share.

Second, my entire day was turned upside down by this encounter.  Our plan for the day went out the window, and open hands to God's plan had to be given to the Lord.  Hannah had to adjust and engage strangers in a loving way, but it was a joyful, wonderful afternoon.

Third, though our apartment had some pretty significant issues, it was OUR home.  I drove to the apartment in OUR car, and it was full of our things.  This family's car is impounded because they can't afford the tow fee after it broke down on the side of the road. After hours of hard job search, at 4 p.m. this family got on the train in Sandy Springs (in the north part of Atlanta) to go down to South Atlanta.  (this is a very long, long ride) to apply for another job.  All of this with 4 kids in tow to return home at the end of the day to transistional housing. This housing, very appreciated by them, I noticed had created for all their children, including the 7 month old, "barking" coughing that is surely from living in close proximity to so many people.  Hannah said "I never realized what a blessing it is to have a car" and I would add, to have a home.

So I want to magnify God. Because for many reasons that would take pages to write, He has made it plain that this was the best plan for our family this week.  Many, many prayers were answered, and it is honestly one of the best weeks in the last 6 months. I have heard the Spirit of God saying, "you FELT homeless, I WAS homeless".  He said "I am going to give to this woman today, who is REALLY homeless and you are going to be the 'cup of cold water in my name'".  I did not think I had time.

Yet, if my week had been any different, we would not have experienced the incredible generosity of friends opeing their home to us, we would not have seen the multitude of instantaneous prayers answered, we had what turned out to be a very unifiying a good experience for our family and finally, we likely would never had seen or meet our new friends.  All the order, calm and productivity in the world that could have been given to us this week and we would have been the losers.

So what is the take away from this?  For us, it has been the halting of self pity, the joy of seeing how God is at work and worship for Jesus.  It has made me pray and think of all the people I don't know who are in this same place in so many American cities.  Then I think of the poverty and homelessness of the people in Uganda and how the poorest person in America would be rich in comparison to them.

So I am thankful and hopeful I won't forget all I have learned.  Here's to another day with hands open to God's plan for us.  I wonder what adventure is next.

Andrea