Matthew 25:34-40

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

The righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

For me, one of the hardest parts about being in any big city is the homelessness that comes along with it. Not kidding, EVERY time I see a homeless person my mind immediately goes to the verses above. I picture Jesus saying to me when I stand before Him, “Where were you when I was hungry? Where were you when I needed a place to stay?”. How ashamed I would be to tell Him I was there, but I just walked by.

Last week, I passed by a man on the ground twice before I finally worked up the nerve to go and speak to him. Something in me (the Holy Spirit) was telling me to go back and talk to this man. He had no legs and was sitting beneath an above ground subway stop in Jackson Heights. For those of you unfamiliar with this area, it’s gross. This is the birds’ favorite spot to poop everywhere. People avoided him. His legs had no bandages on them and it wasn’t a clean cut, his legs near where they were cut off were black and it all looked very unhealthy and unclean.

I squatted to his level and asked him if he was hungry. He seemed surprised and told me that he was, and I asked if he would like for me to buy him a meal. He said yes. I went and bought him a bagel and some water. I handed it to him, and sat down on the floor next to him. He again seemed very surprised. I asked him to tell me his story. He said that his name is Jose and he is from Mexico. I told him I was comfortable listening to him tell his story in Spanish. He spoke very quickly and with very much emotion, so it was hard for me to understand, but basically- he moved to NY 2 years ago. He got bone cancer in his legs. Couldn’t afford it, didn’t have insurance. Doesn’t have any money left, and all his family is still in Mexico. He lives on the street, without a house, without any money. He said a lot of other things that I couldn’t understand.

The I heard ‘something something something…biblia…’. Bible? Now. I VERY rarely take my bible with me when I leave in the mornings. It is pretty heavy and I honestly do not take it out very often while I am working during the day. But that morning, I did. I literally told Lauren ‘If I’m ever going to need to take this with me, today is probably the day’. I was referring to the mosque we were going to tour that night.

 I was right, I did need it, but not for the reason I thought.

I said to Jose ‘Necesitas una biblia? Do you need a bible?’ He said yes, and I gave him mine. He was astonished and began looking through it. He started crying. I asked, “Can I pray for you?’ He nodded yes. I prayed for his safety, for God to be glorified, that he would be given a house, money, and an opportunity to see his family. As we finished praying, his face was glimmering with tears. “You are the angel that God has sent to me”, he said.

How funny is that. God would use me, this person that rejects Him so often, that doubts His goodness, this person that is usually there but walks by, to be an angel to someone else. What an HONOR.  How incredible the ways that God will use you and just show up if we would just follow what He has commanded us to do.

Limitless

Ramadan has started! For those of you that are unfamiliar with this term, Ramadan is a time each year when Muslims fast all day every day from sun up to sun down… for an entire month. This means no eating OR drinking (yes, even water) until 8:30 at night. What makes matters worse is that New York has been experiencing an INTENSE heat wave this past week. It has been incredibly miserable even for those of us who do not wear head coverings and can drink water, so I can’t imagine what it’s like for the Muslim ladies.

Urban Impact centers lose a percentage of our students during Ramadan every year. Our English centers consist mainly of people of different religions such as Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists, so a Ramadan prevents many of the Muslim students from coming. So some of us interns were praying the entire month of June that not too many of our students would drop out during Ramadan….

A couple days before Ramadan, my teammate Lauren boldly prayed:

“God, overflow our centers during Ramadan”

I remember sighing to myself, thinking it was cute that Lauren had such a hope and already feeling sad that it just wasn’t going to happen. We have many Muslim students, no way would we be overcapacity when Ramadan hits. Severely under capacity?…yes, definitely.

The first day of Ramadan comes…. The South Asian Center BOOMS. One of the men that teaches there tells one of our other interns “man it’s crazy, this place is overflowing”.

That night we pray:

“God, help our centers to be so full that we don’t even have enough seats for everyone”

We run out of seats the very next day.

So, from this I have learned two things:

1.) God is bigger than Ramadan. Way bigger. No other religion, customs, people, or traditions can surprise Him, scare Him, or stop Him.

2.) Sometimes, we limit God in our prayer. He can do abundantly more than we could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Be bold in your prayers to Him because I’m really embarrassed about how I doubted He could do this. I’m super thankful for Lauren’s trust that God could answer any prayer or I may have not noticed this miracle in the same way.


In the meantime, we have literally had to CLOSE OUR REGISTRATION FOR ENGLISH CLASSES. So much for the lack of students during Ramadan, eh? Can we just take a moment and marvel…. Lord God, You are SO cool. Thank You for overflowing our centers.

And the greatest commandment is...

After a week of being in New York, I am completely in awe of how international it is. This is, after all, still my country. I knew I would be interacting with some different cultures (that’s pretty much my job description) but WOW. I had no idea how diverse it would get! This place is the melting pot of all melting pots.  I have spent way too much money already trying all sorts of ethnic foods and there are no signs of me stopping in the near future. No more Sonic for me, I’ll take some bubble tea to go, please.

Interacting with people different from myself and especially eating their food are things I LOVE. This is right up my alley.

However, when you’re outside the Bible belt, it’s much easier to start questioning your faith. It is hard to not feel challenged when you’re suddenly the minority because of your beliefs. There are also some hard feelings directed toward Christians. Some have been scorned by the church or feel attacked by us. There is this common misconception that as Christians, we’re all judgmental, unforgiving, and self-righteous.

 Let me tell you friends- this is true about some people that call themselves Christian. But, by definition, that is absolutely NOT who we are because that is absolutely not the way Jesus called us to live. Above everything and anything else, we are to LOVE- the greatest commandment, according to JC Himself. We are to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and we are to love others as ourselves. And not the kind of ‘love’ that I previously mentioned when talking about eating food… It’s a self-sacrificing love that demands a question. It’s crying with someone, laughing with someone, and genuinely caring about someone far past what anyone else is willing to go. It’s not to earn our way to heaven, it’s not to win favor, it’s not to impress anyone. It’s saying, ‘God loves you so unfathomably more than I will ever be able to, but I am going to do the best possible job to show you what that looks like in human terms’.

It’s the kind of love that Jesus modeled for us. Wherever you are, whoever you are encountering, make sure that you are demonstrating that love in everything you say and do. It matters.  

I am not a blogger. Not even a little bit.

Case in point: It has taken me two hours (count em, 120 minutes at minimum) to set up my profile. This stuff is freakin HARD for me, you know? So many questions. Should I use Madie or Madison? Are my eyes too squinty in this picture? What in heaven's name is a blogger template? What will it say about me if I use an ocean background over the foresty background? Am I outdoorsy enough for either? 

I am sure I know what you are thinking. This kid is embarrassing herself. Someone needs to pull her aside and suggest she express herself via something much less public. And I would probably agree with you, oh mysterious blogger. There is a great chance that this could end up much like the myspace fiasco, where I google myself years later only to be reminded that there is in fact something with my real name plastered on it that contains far too many misspelled words and pictures of me doing the peace sign (I beg you, don't try and find it). 

However, as dull as I may seem God is using me in some cool ways this summer. Actually, not just this summer. God has been doing some pretty sweet things since Day 1. If you stick around and keep up with my blog (did I just say that? I'm mortified. Could we rename this- creative writing space? online journal? ANYTHING but 'my blog') I'd love to share with you how He's moving in my life and through the things that I'm involved in this summer.