Backstage at the Jesus House

Every Tuesday night I make my way over to the Jesus House to teach my young apprentice, Selena, guitar (Although, she usually ends up teaching me something much more meaningful most weeks). It's kind of crazy how it's all worked out.

About 2 years ago I was praying for an opportunity to be involved with the "less fortunate" in town and the Jesus House kept coming to mind. I had helped there a few times at Intersection, a local community service project, and really felt like God had placed a strong desire in me to invest there more. Then in November/December of 2009 my friend Anna asked if I would want to take over guitar lessons for her at the Jesus House since she was leaving for school in Chicago in the spring. To make a long story short, I've been teaching Selena for just over a year and it's been such a great experience for both of us, I think.

OK, before I keep rambling, here's a video of Selena playing "How He Loves," a song I literally just taught her 20 minutes before this. She's so talented and is creating some good art. Notice how the other kids just came in and started singing. Love them.



(clearing my throat) Aaahem.

There are a lot of others there that I've gotten to know at the Jesus House and I value their friendships so much. I think of Elmer, or Elms as I call him, (the first one to truly greet me when I started going there on Tuesdays) and his care for me. He is always bringing me a hot cup of coffee and telling me that I need to wear more clothes, be more careful when I drive, different ways to save money and ALWAYS mentions how much I love fried chicken just because I had it one time when I was there. Haha. For real, if there is ever a silent moment in his presence, he'll start flapping his wings like a chicken and start talking about how I'm going to flap my wings and fly away because I love fried chicken. He's right. He knows me so well.

So I got to drive him home tonight and met his sister and niece. I don't think they were huge fans of me coming over unexpected (as his sister was in her nighty smoking a cig and mentioned how she wasn't expecting company), but they were nice about it. Elmer immediately took me over to the calendar where he had a picture of us in a plastic baggy taped up. He was so proud of it and referred to us as "brothers for life."

I wondered to myself how much it mattered to Elmer that I was his friend compared to how much it mattered to me. There seemed to be a pretty clear imbalance there. But at the same time the truth that has popped into my mind over and over again as of late: you didn't do anything to deserve where or who you are in this life. It is a gift. From God. To you. For Others. God calls us to be a blessing to all peoples (Genesis 12:1-3). And in the process you will be blessed more than you can imagine. The friends in my life that seemingly have had "nothing" to offer at the surface have given me so much more than I would have ever imagined. In a lot of cases I thought I was doing this "saving" work in their lives and that they needed me. Oh, the paradox.

*******I'm adding this edit a few weeks later after getting a revelation about this*******
While I do feel like these friends give me so much more than I give them sometimes, there are definitely times when my love is not returned or at least it seems like there isn't a reciprocation of what I invested into them. There isn't always a "wow, you gave me so much more than I gave you" feeling. But that doesn't change the fact that investing in people for the cause of the Kingdom is well worth it, even if we never see or feel the results. OK, I needed to say that! Peace.
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But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
1 Corinthians 1:27-29

I could write about these people in my life for the next few days and still not tell the whole story. I'm not saying it's easy, but I am saying it's worth it to invest in someone's life who may not seem to be able to offer much back. Jesus said that "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."  (Matthew 25:40). Like I've heard Derek Webb say before, "love is not efficient." Very true. But worth it.

OK, so I promise I will actually have some artists featured on the blog VERY soon. That's kind of the reason I started it but it hasn't really been that, for better or worse. Sssssee ya.