Safe House

Safe house, when you hear that word what comes to mind? For me I think of place that is safe and somewhere you can receive not only what you need but even things you didn’t think you needed. Pretty generic I know but that’s what comes to mind for me beside of course gangster movies that mention safe houses where they keep all their stuff. This week I had the opportunity to experience and see a point of view that is so often overlooked. I was able to serve at safe house in Atlanta and see what so many of us in the church may never see or hear about and that’s the stories or lives of our brothers and sisters that are homeless or poor. This was the first time I had ever done anything like much less even thought about that Jesus loved these same people just as much as me and that he was going to totally open my eyes to what he meant when he spoke about the poor and helpless in the Bible.

I meet Pastor Joe who I believe was the man in charge of Safe House and the first thing I noticed was that he loved what God allowed him to do and never one time did I ever hear him call it a job or complain when he shared with us what exactly safe house does or what they were all about. They second thing I noticed was how Pastor Joe knew just about every person by name that walked through the gates of safe house which was very impressive considering that on any given night he could have anywhere from 50 to 100 people show up for service.  The reason that hit me so hard was because today many churches (not all) are all about big attendance numbers and when that happens people and lives seem to get lost or go unrecognized. But not with Safe House and Pastor Joe each person had a name and each time food was served during dinner, breakfast, or even walking the streets late at night handing out food if you listened or if you cared you would meet a person that just like you had dreams and plans but somewhere go lost along the way. People that just like us needed to hear that Jesus loved them and cared for them and had not lost them or forgot about them. People that get overlooked or pass over because of how they look or where there forced to live because of whatever the circumstance.

People like George who the whole time I was there always had a smile on his face and laughing and was so thankful that people cared enough to sit down and talk with him. People like little Davis a young kid that lived with his mother who knows where but was so happy just to hang out and play basketball with a flat ball and a broken basketball goal. People like little Michelle that as father made me want to adopt her and take her home. She was a little girl probably no older than 3 that had no clue what was going on or why things were the way they were she was just content to have people play with her and I’ll never forget the smile and laughter she had that day as she dance around on stage. People just like this women who I wasn’t able to catch her name but she asked could she get on stage and sing and if you took a look at her you probably would have wrote her off but I promise you she had voice better than most church worship leaders today. People like our tour guide Matt that was a manager of his uncle’s multi-million dollar company and decided that since Jesus loved him so much that he wanted to go live with the homeless just so he could share the same love and savior that had rescued him and when I say go live with the homeless he actually lived on the streets with the homeless.

Now I’m not campaigning to find your local safe house or run out and feed a homeless person to make yourself feel better I’m talking about taking Jesus at his word and creating a culture or a lifestyle that is recognizing and doing all we can to help those around us who maybe took a bad turn or made a bad choice and that just like us if given another chance or given the opportunity could turn things around and become another person brought into the family of believers instead of another statistic. All around us are hurting people that have stories and just need someone to talk too or someone to listen but some many times we allow things of no value to replace things of great value like the life of a human being and the changing of a family’s generation all because were too caught up in doing the church thing. As I learn this week the church is more than a building and it’s much more than 2 services a week it’s a relationship with Jesus Christ that changes everything the way we live, the way we view things, and the way we do things because if the love of Jesus is in us we can’t help but love the way He does and love those who He loves. I’ve included some pictures from my few days at Safe House I hope God stirs something inside of you that changes just being ok with living a so/so Christian life.

-Lance