Thy will be done here as it is there.

Last Sunday I was invited to head up to Grand Rapids to see what a church was doing to reach out to the homeless. From 3-5 there was pizza and people just hung out and talked before a service started at 5. When the service started the guy who invited me, Brian, and I headed out to go down to a tent city where about 8 guys live.

We hopped a curb in Brian’s minivan and headed up a service road next to some train tracks. A little ways down the road I saw a huge Budweiser banner that served as part of a wall to a shack that was built up from boards and siding and other scraps. We kept driving a little bit more and a few more sheds showed up tucked back in the woods where a huge american flag hung like a canopy in the trees.

Brian stopped the van at the last shed. He told me that the church has mainly funded and built this shed and was way better than the other places. We knocked and walked through the door that led into one room that was about ten feet by twelve feet. Three couches lined the walls which wrapped around ladder in the center of the room that went up to a lofted bed. In the corner was a wood stove where food had just been cooked. The shed smelled like chicken and charcoal.

One man sat on the couch next to me was passed out snoring the whole time we were there. Another man sat next to him with a broken heel wrapped in ace bandage and a trash bag. He had long thin red hair, hands coated with dirt and had just finished a bottle of vodka which made him very talkative.

Cookie, who is the owner of this shed, sat across from us. He wore a hat and huge glasses that I’ve only seen in pictures of my parents from the 80’s. After we shook hands my palm took some of the dirt, oil and charcoal from Cookie’s hand leaving mine dirty and dark but I really didn’t care. It reminded me of times in Denver that I oddly miss right now. We talked for a while about how life was going, how he was holding up, what supplies he needed, what problems the tent city community was having and when we might see him again. Sooner than later, after taking note of the things Cookie and the rest of the city needed, we said our goodbyes and left them sitting there in the shed.

That all made me think about how people often ask me why or how I can justify just going and being with people “like that”. Aren’t they addicted, jobless, beggars, smelly, scary, weird and not trying to become un-homeless? Well yes sometimes they are but I think what people are really asking me is how I can care about them when they don’t seem to be trying to be “normal” or “good like us”.

It really is an interesting question. Why do I do it?

I guess because I’m messed up too but I want to be perfect. I want others to be perfect. Not the perfect that is attained by our own effort and not messing up at all but the perfect that is given to us when Jesus died for us. We’re told we we’re made perfect by that. We can be seen as perfect because all our bad, our sin, our flaws, self centeredness, pride from achievements and shame from failure can be sent away. It’s how Jesus see’s us. It’s how the Bible tells and pleads with us to see each other.

So that’s why I do what I do and why I love doing it. Because in the shed next to the muddy road that lines the train tracks I believe what the Bible said could happen, why Jesus came, and how we’re supposed to live our Christian lives started to come into fruition here and now on earth. In a sense I saw 5 perfect people sitting with each other in a space that was created out of forgiveness and understanding and having the kind of value that God gave us on the sixth day when he said “this is good”. It’s the same space that was created last night when I got to hang out with 15 Young Life guys and the same space that I experienced in a brunch at a hotel with my uncle and a businessman that was worth 50 million dollars. Hobo’s, high-schoolers and millionaires… all equal and perfect and loved and enjoyed. I imagine that this space is what we mean when we talk about heaven on earth, when we say thy will be done here as it is there and when we ask to see the world through Jesus’ eyes.

Life is not about the conditions we or others are in. It’s about space we make.

*If you are interested in helping out here are a couple things we’re trying to get for Cookie and the community this week. Just an opportunity for you to be part of that space.

-Candles (tall thick ones that don’t burn out quickly), pancake mix (Meijer or Wal-Mart gift cards could work too), an acoustic guitar (if you have one sitting in the basement or one to spare? Cookie is quite the guitar player and plays for all the guys at night).

**I also need help raising my support to work at the Rescue Mission… part time at the running shop isn’t cutting it. My goal is $800/month any help would be great. Gas cards also really help out too since I do a lot of driving.

Contact me at travis.rieth@gmail.com or comment below if you’re interested in any of the above.

Thanks and God Bless.