A year ago today, I was thankful for a fresh start. I was ready to forget 2013 and take the next step. Not sure of what I really wanted, I simply asked God to surprise me.
That He did.
With very little effort on my part, God began to build a foundation that would lead to something brand new.
So for the last three months, my family has been on a quest to bridge gaps. Side by side, with our new church family, we have been on a quest to find those who feel forgotten and make them feel remembered. We have been searching out the darkest places in our community so that we can shine a light. Our goal is to bridge the distance from death to life, faith to action, and brokenness to hope.
Never was that demonstrated more than on Christmas Eve.
At the conclusion of our Christmas Eve service, there was an opportunity to be seized. We had 20 wrapped gifts under our church's trees. We also knew there would be at least 20 people walking the streets of our city that night, who would not be receiving any gifts this Christmas. How great would it be if 20 families, on their way home to celebrate with their loved ones, chose to give a gift to a stranger! What if they were willing to take the long way home and go looking for people who were alone, cold, and broken? What if they were willing to fight through the fear and give gifts to strangers? What if they were willing to remember the forgotten?
That's exactly they did.
As I look back on 2014, my favorite moment will be the image of my church family giving strangers the gift of hope this Christmas.
Hope is hard to find. But it is so easy to give. Here's to a year of remembering those who feel forgotten.
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