So, I’m reading this book Justice in the Burbs by Will and Lisa Samson. The description on the back is an encouragement to “kiss apathy and ignorance good-bye in favor of a life of concern and action. This book is one of many influences that God is putting in my path to keep me in a constant state of angst.

I don’t hardly know where to begin. What should we be doing, where should we be living and being so that we can live a life of concern and action. Where do we need to be directing our attention, spending our time so that we are not ignorant of what is is that Jesus is doing in our city. Who is He seeking to save, to free, to offer life to.

We are just beginning our journey here and for the most part, our experience has been encouraging.

This morning, as the above coffee sleeve that hugged my Starbucks coffee, that I think I may have stolen mistaking it for free coffee, I was gripped by a sense of grief. I sat in on a good concert and took communion with a group of people that once dismissed were too hurried, too busy to even make eye contact. As Spencer displayed his i.d. number and I matched mine to his, he proclaimed, “We didn’t learn anything or talk about God, but we had a bean bag fight, it was fun!”

I was gripped by the nagging sense that while we think we are doing well – our buildings are well built, clean, our coffee is good, our seats are comfortable, our tech team is tight…we do love God – we are being paralyzed by some idea that we can be, or should be safe. Good things happen, true. I wonder though, what could happen if we actually ever saw the people who get the angel tree gifts or live in the orphanage? What could happen in and through us, how much more could God’s love be made known if we gave our lives, our time…instead of just our money?

I gotta do something about this in my life. This one family has got to get better at this. Enough talking about it, how many more times does God have to speak to me about this?

Real People, Real Coffee.