Unprovoked, Unqualified, and Undeserved Love

On November 17, 2007 I had an experience that has caused me to think extensively about what it means to truly love someone in a Christ-like manner. I’ve had mixed reactions to this story from various people, which have caused me to have responsive feelings as diverse as rage and joy, hope and despair.

Long story short, on that particular Friday night, I met a couple strangers in Toccoa. They appeared to have a genuine need: it was cold out, they were not properly dressed for the weather, and they didn’t have a ride to their home a few miles from where we were. I had the ability to meet their need: I had no obligations, and I had a vehicle that could take them home quickly. And so, I decided to offer these two strangers some hospitality by giving them a ride. As it turns out, they took advantage of my hospitality. They took my wallet, my cell phone, my keys, and left me alone on a back road in Toccoa. They violated me as a person by rejecting my friendship. They chose to dehumanize me and devalue me rather than accept love from a stranger.

As I mentioned earlier, I have had mixed feedback to my actions. Some have ridiculed me for helping a pair of strangers, while others have suggested showing more caution when dealing with them. Some have responded in anger toward the young men who took advantage of me, hoping that they get their “just recompenses.” Although I can relate to some of the feelings these responses have been bourn out of, many of them have saddened me. Ultimately, the mixed nature of this feedback, especially from fellow Christians I might add, has caused me to take up a defensive posture toward my actions. All in all, I feel the need to defend myself and my actions toward a pair of strangers that night.

An element of essential back-story to the events of November the 17^th is that for the last year or so, beginning spring of my junior year of college, I’ve been thinking extensively about what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Although I‘d certainly considered the subject before, these thoughts were reawakened by a reading assignment in History of Theology. Dr. Shelton had us read a small portion of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship in our discussion of Neo-Orthodoxy. Bonhoeffer is famously quoted as saying, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

The cost of discipleship in America seems to me to be downplayed. It is certainly not a message you would hear from the lips of Joel Olsteem and other preachers of the popular prosperity gospel (I hesitate to call it “good news;” it certainly does not appear to me to be the good news of the Kingdom of God). But over and over again Jesus and his disciples seem to reaffirm how much God requires from those who choose to follow him. Indeed, it seems to be nothing less than total commitment and total surrender. All three writers of the synoptic gospels use similar language saying that anyone who wishes to follow Jesus must take up his cross (Mat 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23). Matthew and Luke expound to say that those who do not take up their cross, are not worthy of even being associated with Jesus (Mat 10:38, Luke 14:27).

Part of the cost of discipleship includes a willingness to suffer persecution, ridicule, and the cross. It means learning to obey all that Christ commanded (Mat 28:19, 20). Part of my reflection with reference to the events of November 17^th has been the teachings of Christ concerning love for strangers and enemies.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is representative of the teachings of Christ concerning who our neighbor is and our obligation to him. Jesus clearly teaches that it is the people we despise the most who are our neighbors, the ones we are to love as we love ourselves. According to Jesus’ teaching, when we become his followers, we no longer have strangers or enemies! Everyone has become our neighbor. Jesus later exclaims that when we show kindness strangers, we show kindness to our Lord and savior, Jesus himself. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reaffirms these ideas when he tells us to love our enemies in the same way we love our neighbor (Mat 5:38-48). In verse 48 he seems to go so far as to make love for enemies a criterion for perfection.

By Jesus logic, helping two neighbors in need of a ride is nothing special but the obligation that he gives all who wish to follow him. It is notable that Jesus does not seem to condone caution in this love at all. Instead, he seems to promote careless and reckless love, a love that might cost us a slap in the cheek, the clothes off our back, or an extra mile of labor for a cruel enemy. He doesn’t suggest that we size up the situation to see if we might get hurt. He tells us to love and leaves it at that. In fact, he suggests on several occasions that we WILL be hurt and harmed for doing good (Mat 10:23, Luke 21:12, John 15:20). Paul both confirms this with his life, and with his teachings when he says, “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12).

Jesus demonstrates this unprovoked, unqualified and undeserved love for enemies in his own life. Are we not all enemies of God? Yet perfect Jesus made peace with the world through his blood sacrifice on Calvary. Surely there was no one as undeserving of love as us, and no one more perfect in love than he, and yet he chose to love us who hated him, and at such great cost.

When we help people who have needs, it is inevitable that we will be taken advantage of, robbed of time and possessions, hurt, and persecuted. If fear of these things keeps us from doing good deeds, then we are sinning. But many Christians have exhorted caution in doing good. Caution born out of the wisdom and prompting of the Holy Spirit is one thing, but caution born out of fear is a lack of love born of a selfish desire for self-preservation. May fear of harm, loss, or disappointment never be a reason why we fail to love those around us! And when we are harmed, may we remember the words of our Lord, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Mat 5: 10-12).

I share the conclusion of the events of November 17^th not to brag, but to demonstrate God’s faithfulness when we step out in faith to perform good works in his name, especially at the expense of caution and in spite of our fear. After filing a police report and finally making it back to campus, I called Pastor Paul Dordal, who has become a mentor of sorts to me. I told him about the incident, and asked his opinion about the situation. We concluded our conversation by praying that (1) I’d have the opportunity to show kindness to a stranger soon, (2) that I’d have the opportunity to forgive my assailants in person, and that (3) God would use the situation to draw those two young men to himself. I began praying for these three things daily as I continued to process through things in my mind.

On November 25^th as I was driving back down to Toccoa after spending Thanksgiving with my family and friends in Aliquippa, PA. About an hour or so into the 10 hour drive, I passed a hitchhiker on I-79, right before it splits with I-70. I stopped, found out where the man was heading, and offered him a ride. He rode with me for six hours down to North Carolina. One of my only regrets from the last two guys I had picked up was that I had not shared with them the gospel directly, but had kept my kindness limited to good deeds. I’d resolved that the next person I picked up would hear the loving gospel of Jesus Christ. I shared with Thoman this story of my mugging, as well as about a Jesus who loves him. We talked on and off about religion and life for the whole six hours. We had a good time, and I continue to pray that God blesses him and protects him. I myself was blessed by the experience. Pastor Paul and I had prayed that I’d be given the opportunity to help out a stranger before I became bitter and jaded toward them, and God gave me the opportunity with Thoman.

Two days later I was working at Pizza Hut, delivering pizza to South Alexander Street in Toccoa. I still had not yet replaced my stolen cell phone, and so I was apprehensive about working without it and getting lost. South Alexander was not a familiar street to me, and sure enough, I got lost on the way. Unable to call for directions, I stopped and asked a woman to give me directions. She told me where it was, and I proceeded to the house. There was no parking immediately near where I needed to drop off the pizza, so I was forced to walk a ways down the street to the house. On the way back to my car after delivering the pizza, I noticed a young man who appeared familiar to me. It was the young man who had mugged and robbed me only ten days earlier. I hopped in my car, drove up to him, rolled down my window and forgave him there in the street. I told him that I was a follower of Jesus and that I forgave him. It seemed that the only words I could articulate were, “I forgive you.” The young man was dumbstruck and shocked in his demeanor. He said nothing to me, but stared at me silently with jaw dropped.

Driving away, I praised God and thanked him for answering that second prayer, that I’d have the chance to forgive those young men in person. Now I share this story with people who ask so that they can join me in praying for those young men and that they would one day come to repentance. They are in need of Jesus, and I pray that the Holy Spirit continues to come into conflict with their actions and convict them of their sin. I may never see them again, but God can use the transpiring events of their lives to draw them slowly to himself.

And sometimes I wonder at the eternal cost of my occasional passivity and inaction. God may use the events of November 17^th to snatch two young men from the jaws of sin and death. Had I not been willing to love two strangers, they may have never been shown kindness by a Christian. As it stands now, they have seen the kindness of a disciple of Christ, and they now have more people praying for them than they may have ever had in their lives.

As I reflect on God and his ability to take a seemingly awful situation and turn it for his good, I am reminded that this is the story of God in history. The entire Bible is the story of God taking a situation that was intended for evil, and turning it for good. These are the words of Joseph to his brothers who had beaten him and sold him into slavery, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” The very cross, the center of our faith, is the quintessential example of God working good out of an evil situation. It is what just what he does.

Musings on Art, Stasis, Determinism and Hope

I’ve been reading Taking it to the Streets by Dr. Corbitt of Eastern University. The book is an inspiring introduction to arts-based community-development, a subject I’ve become recently fascinated in for several reasons. Just by way of background, I grew up as an art lover. I remember early childhood gifts of paint brushes and paint; I remember time passed over homemade easels and rolls of butcher paper. Throughout high-school I took as many art classes as I could. For parts of my Sophomore and Junior years I dreamed of studying at art school in the visual arts. Unfortunately, where I grew up there were no real examples of faith-integrated arts programs, or art-based evangelism. I had a hard time reconciling my love for drawing/painting and my desire to share the gospel to the unreached. I saw the two concepts in a false dichotomy, art or evangelism.

Stasis is stagnation. Stasis is things remaining as they are, unchanged. When something is static, it is cemented, fixed in stone. Stasis, in its essence, is a lack of change. When we see the world around us as static, we perceive the world as incapable of change. Seeing the world as static is a hopeless, cynical and desperate (full of despair) way of looking at life. It is also blatantly anti-Christian and anti-hope. Seeing people, churches and communities as static is seeing them as hopeless. We say it all the time in Aliquippa: the Christian faith is not compatible with hopeless people, hopeless churches, or hopeless communities.

I’ve often expressed to Joel and others that I have hard time believing in determinism of all kinds. In fact, I would go so far as to argue that determinism is evil and wrong. What do I mean by determinism? Determinism is the belief that our actions, lives, feelings, etc. are all somehow determined by something. We live in a society that embraces many forms of determinism. Anthropologists suggest our actions are governed by cultural determinism. Scientists suggest that our thoughts, moods and impulses are governed by biological determinism. Psychologists suggest that our thoughts and actions are governed by chemical determinism. Sociologists believe our reactions are governed by social influences, upbringing and demographics. Reformed theologians suggest our fates are theologically determined (predestination). I am not arguing that these different areas (biological makeup, chemicals, upbringing, etc.) do not have any effect on the way we think and act. What I am suggesting, however, is that when we limit these things to determinism, we are essentially believing in stasis. Determinism inevitably leads to a belief in stasis, a belief that things are determined and fixed. Determinism and stasis stand in direct opposition to hope. When we see the world as static, we see the world as beyond the hope of transformation.

My Life as Delivery Boy

Well, here I am back in Toccoa for my senior, yep SENIOR year of college. The semester is officially on its way as the second week of the semester approaches its midpoint. My classes this semester turned out to be easier than those most recent, and so I’ve decided to try and work this semester. I applied at Wal-Mart, decided not to follow up, and ended up getting hired as pizza delivery man at Pizza Hut. I’ve only worked three days, but so far I love it. I make decent money with tips, and I get to drive around listening to music. Aside from that, I’ve met some interesting people on deliveries and at work.

One of the hardest things about attending school for me the last three years has been the lack of real human interaction. Over the course of my years here at Toccoa, I probably spent on average an hour a week off campus. Its nice to be interacting with people off campus on a regular basis. It helps me keep things in perspective and gosh I’m going to learn a lot.

Take my co-worker Billy (not his real name) for example. Billy is 26-28 years old, a Georgia native, grew up right around here. He’s been working at Pizza Hut for a couple weeks now, so next to me he is the newest employee. He is a fellow delivery man. My first day at work he was asking me where I was from and over the course of the conversation I revealed that I am senior at Toccoa, originally from New York. The conversation began as small talk but then Andy asked whether Toccoa Falls College was Christian college. I quickly responded that it was, but not everyone there is a Christian. It was as if I needed to defend the fact that I went there by explaining that not EVERYONE there is a Christian. It was a distancing, defensive response, and I recognized immediately how uncomfortable I felt with him and my other coworkers knowing that I am a believer. I’m a very analytical person, and even to this moment I am not sure whether I was worried about revealing my faith, or just worried about revealing my faith so soon. I think I envisioned my coworkers learning about my faith, but gradually and over time. But this was not the case. The conversation didn’t really go to much further that first night, we were both engaged with different tasks and so things were left essentially at that.

After analyzing things a bit more afterward, I realized my need to repent. My faith is a part of my life, a big part of my life, and people like Billy are the people I want to live among, serve and build relationships with. I prayed over the next day or so that I would have the opportunity to expound a bit more, and to be more honest with my beliefs. That prayer was answered today. Billy brought up matters of faith tonight at work and was very open with his beliefs and convictions. He revealed to me that he was baptized as a Pentecostal, had a bizzare, far out (his words), experience that sort of freaked him out and scared him from the church. Since then he goes to church occasionally but not really regularly. He confessed that he doesn’t really think that God has one name or that God is exclusively Christian. He mentioned that perhaps sincere Buddhists go to heaven as well. It was an interesting conversation and I felt really comfortable with him. I felt like my role tonight was more as listener, so I didn’t give my convictions about things, though I hope to sometime in the near future. I want to make sure I have the right to share my beliefs. Anyway, all that to say…I’m excited about this process, and I admitedly have a lot to learn.

People in this world are seeking something. Billy’s story is evidence of that. Why was I so shocked to here someone interested in matters of faith? Billy said something very interesting to me tonight about the church. Since working in Aliquippa, I’ve had a lot of time to think about the institutional church, and in diologeing with Pastor Joel, Pastor Jim, and Pastor Paul about the subject, I’ve had a lot of time to think about how distant it has become from society. Tonight Billy told me that he doesn’t get church. He doesn’t understand it and he doesn’t really like it. Some of the things there bother him, make him feel uncomfortable, and seem extra to him. Tonight as we were discussing this he said something profound…he said, “I think this is the church right here, Billy and Dean talking, that is the church.” How amazing that this seemingly naive redneck Toccoan who told me tonight it took him ten years to get his GED (I’m being deliberate with this description to prove a point) understands the church better than most “Christians” do! Jesus said wherever two or more are gathered in his name, there he is also, there is the church…This guy GOT it. Anyway, all that to say, I’m excited to begin forming relationships like this. I’ll be posting more about work in the coming weeks I am sure. Some might be lighter than this, I’ve got some great stories about deliveries…