I Feel Invisible

"Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep praying. When God's people are in need be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality."

Thank God. Glory, Hallelujah for this new revelation of Love Serves.

Yesterday, I served on the streets of the Bluff with my friends. The Bluff is Georgia's biggest heroin market. It is chronicled on the news and even in movies like "The Snow on the Bluff." I've driven through parts of the Bluff multiple times on my way to the AUC Library to tutor one of my tutees at Morehouse. But yesterday, I really was in the Bluff and it was real. It was hard and it was true life. After feeding, talking, and praying for 3 hours, I came home exhausted - not physically, but spiritually. I slept from 6p last night to 6a this morning. I woke up 4 times in between and cried every time. I kept going back to sleep because I didn't want to think about it. Today, I spoke to the Elder of my church to get my feelings out of my head and into someone elses. That talk gave me the courage to open my Bible and hear from God. Here is what I learned:

I love them. All the people I met yesterday. I cried out for them this morning because I love them. I love them as if I were them. You let me feel their pain so that I could see and humble myself to be a servant to them. You brought me to realize that I'm no more deserving of my situation than they are of theirs. We are all just Spirits born from a woman's womb. I didn't do anything special to be born into the family I was born in to. I love them. They could have been me.They are more than a brother or sister to me. They are me. My Spirit yearns for them. And through that yearning I felt a new level of love for people that I've never felt before.

I don't have pity for them. I'm not sorry for them. I have compassion for them because I know I could be them. I am troubled by their pain and feel upset that they were chosen to live that life, but I also realize their is purpose, grace, love, mercy, and blessing in struggle. So I will keep on praying.

Yesterday, I lost hope a little. I was thinking, I have no way to get them out of there. I have no way to help them. But that was a whole lot of "I's" with no thought of YOU! Today, I don't just rejoice in hope, I rejoice in confident hope acknowledging that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords made me one with them for a moment so that I could stand in the gap between You and them. I know when God looks at me He sees His Son gold plated over my flesh. So I stand in the gap. Praying for forgiveness of all of their sins and a sharing of the blessings that Jesus has given me. Because I don't deserve my situation any more than they deserve theirs. I love them genuinely, but God loves them Perfectly.

The Bluff is only 10 minutes from my home. There is a place near you too. A place that people tend to keep invisible. A place that when people drive through they lock their doors and roll up their windows, hold their purses a little bit tighter , and tell their kids to duck down further in the back seat. A place with people who have no keys to a home they own because the homes are all condemned. A place with no windows to roll down because the glass is broken and the bars at least keep the burglars out, but not the cold and rain. A place where you hold your purse tight simply because every bit of life that you own is tucked in a purse and carried on your body. A place where your children only get two meals a day when they are at school, but they get no meals on weekends. This place is around the corner from you too.

Connect with a ministry or other service organization that serves these communities. Take your children with you too. Carry love.

If you are in Metro Atlanta visit 7 Bridges to Recovery (http://7bridgestorecovery.org/) to learn how you can care for the Invisible people of Atlanta and make them visible again.