This past Sunday, our church had a guest speaker that Drew and I were quite excited about. He is a young, 20 something, radical follower of Jesus. He comes from our church, is a product of the youth group, and although we didn’t know him extremely well, we both considered him a friend. We also knew he would be sharing some uncomfortable, real, raw stuff, and we were eager to hear it. We’re both growing weary of the fluffy Christianity that most churches seem to present.
James Barnett is a unique Christian. After receiving a word from a “prophetess,” he decided to make a radical life change. He quit his job, sold all his possessions, bought a van, and now lives out on the street among the homeless. He founded an organization called Clothe Your Neighbor as Yourself. If you buy an article of clothing, he in turn will clothe someone in need. He has story after story, and shared one on Sunday where he thought for sure he was about to get jumped, and instead was welcomed and shown love and acceptance by his new homeless friends.
James is the first to admit that this type of decision and radical lifestyle change is not for everyone. But he did encourage us to not just admire Jesus, but really live for Him and like Him. He challenges Christians to open up their guest rooms for the homeless. He really helps to put all of those little “issues” in our lives into perspective. I try to remember that no matter what might be going wrong in my life, I have a warm bed to sleep in and a roof over my head.
Besides being convicted and inspired, I found some other emotions rise to the surface. I found myself jealous that he was able to live out his faith life in such an exciting, revolutionary way. Then I reminded myself that it probably wasn’t so glamorous when he was out in the pouring rain, handing out ponchos to those stuck in the extreme weather.
Last night, a friend posted pictures from her trip to Uganda on Facebook. She and her husband were fellow chaperones while I was on tour with the African Children’s Choir. She tagged me in all the photos of “my” children. It was, as always, a bittersweet moment. I love to see how much they’ve grown (and boy, have they) but it also saddens me because it’s a reminder of that exciting life I used to live, with these beautiful kids that I have no idea when I’ll ever hug again. It brings back memories of concerts with energetic dance, host families with lumpy sofa beds, meeting celebrities, and teaching devotions with 25 eager little African bodies all gathered around me, eyes glued to me.
It was a hectic life, always on the move, always somewhere new, always a new face. It was exciting. But it was also exhausting. It didn’t seem so great when I was answering the same question for the 15th time that week or was cleaning vomit off the bus floor while driving through swervy mountain roads. Like everything in life, it had it’s pros and cons.
When I finished up my tour and arrived back at home, I relished in staying in one place and having some continuity in my days. I am still thankful for the constant in my days. I am more settled into my job and my days. It’s nice to have a routine.
But I do miss the exciting life I used to have. I sometimes wonder if God is calling me to live this constant life for the rest of my days. He does not call us all to lead the Israelites out of Egypt or to sell all our possessions. He wants constant Christians, who are willing to live out His commands in our everyday, boring life.
Am I ready for that? Am I ready for a boring life? I hope that I may have some more “exciting” parts to my faith life, but until then I need to be faithful in the everyday. I can’t say I’m always excited about that prospect, but I am always learning.
