“Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow”. Isaiah 1:17
Yesterday, along with about 60 other women, I went on a bus tour. I wasn’t going to see any grand tourist destination but quite the opposite. I went on a tour of 10 ministries which are reaching out to some of the most poor and marginalised of Oklahoma City. OKC has some depressing and perhaps surprising statistics. For example, Oklahoma incarcerates more women per capita than any other state in the US. However, it is probably the same as most cities world-wide in that babies are abandoned, children are abused and ignored, there are thousands of homeless each night, many young adults have no-one to turn to when they face trouble etc. It was quite an eye-opener and an emotional rollercoaster. We heard story after story of individuals of all ages who had experienced horrific situations, but because they had been reached out to both practically and with the love of Jesus, they had found that their life had been transformed.
One story was of a woman who had grown up with a single, drug pushing mother. They pretty much lived their lives on the streets and were in and out of the homeless shelter. When she was older she also got into the drug scene. As a teenager she was given the opportunity to go on a Christian camp. She did and there she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. A while later a family offered to take her in, although that idea did not appeal. However, she decided for the first time to pray and ask God what He wanted her to do. She felt Him say to go and live with them, so she did. She restarted her education and is now married to a guy who has continued to encourage her in life and in her relationship with God. A while ago, she felt God ask her to reach out to other homeless and struggling families. They now have the beginnings of a ministry of their own, offering low cost housing and other support to those needy people.
A couple of years ago, some good friends of mine left their comfortable lives in Southern California to live with their two young children on the same street as the homeless and addicted. They are leading a radical group of young adults to transform that neighbourhood.
Unlike them, I don’t think that God has made my primary calling to be the poor. However, I don’t think I’m let off the hook either. Years ago I stayed in a virtual mud hut in the Philippines and the family killed one of their 3 chickens so that I could eat. Now I’m living in my virtual palace and I have to think. What is God asking me to do with the poor who are almost on my doorstep?
I now have various lists from the places I visited yesterday with practical suggestions of what I can do. These ideas range from donating food or lightly used children’s clothing, to cleaning streets, to mentoring children (or even those in the juvenile detention centre) to fostering a baby. Currently, I’m thinking about what my family and I can be engaged in. As I’m talking about it to friends and neighbours I already have quite a group of people around me who would be interesting in helping out too, including those who we’re discipling towards faith in Christ.
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48b.
Globally speaking, God has blessed me ABUNDANTLY. What am I going to do with the riches He has entrusted to me?
