Home
“I wanted to invite you to my home.” he said as we sat in a small one bedroom apartment that he and his roommate shared. Two men struggling to make it in these hard economic times.
He had been rescued from hell and horror and this was his home, the first stable thing he had in his 60 years of chaos and survival.
He had been there one year, a miracle in the recovery world and a life of institutional shaped incarceration of 17 years. In and out of jail, hospitals and programs. Rebuilding and destroying each chapter of a hard fought life.
“You’re the first pastor that has ever been here.” he said with trepidation and pride.
Home is a sacred place, especially to those who have had a life of nightmares. A safe place that’s an eye in the storm, a castle in the battle, a refuge of restoration.
The Lord has always been the God of home making. Most of the greatest promises in the Bible are connected to the blessings of finding home, be it earthly or heavenly. Our Father loves to prepare and provide for us a place to stay. That’s why hospitality is one of the most powerful demonstrations of the heart of God.
Together we broke the bitter bread of the stories of homelessness. A reality that goes far deeper than just not having a place to stay.
I left with his last words to me: “Thank you for your kindness.” spoken as only a man who knows suffering could say.
His words echo the many longings of so many broken people fighting to find their way home.
“When Lydia and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.” -Acts 16:15
I am blessed that I was persuaded too.