🙌It's the Friday Call to Worship!🙌

Seven years ago, our family was navigating a new city, ministry fails, racism, legal injustices, puberty, a mental health crisis, losing a baby and having a baby within 365 days. We met our neighbors through the fence and shared just a few visits. We had nothing but cloudy chaos to offer, but Patrick and Kelley kept popping over with a kind of brightness we couldn’t resist. Patrick took pregnancy photos for us in our backyard. Kelley made a baby blanket when Benjamin was born.

We moved away from that house and didn’t really stay connected with those special neighbors. Still, Kelley pops into my life. Once, she dropped off a Christmas toy for the kids. Another time, we met for coffee, and she filled the back of my car with hand-me-down clothes and toys. Two times this year, I reached out to Kelley when life started demanding more than I had in stock. And, two times, she graciously let me use her family’s vacation home for a personal retreat.

I don’t know if the unbroken rest or the generous kindness impacted me more on those retreats. Their combination, however, was not just restful. It was healing. This kind of “neighborly love” doesn’t add up. I’ve added exactly zero value into Kelley’s life. I’ve not even stayed in touch. That nonsensical, disproportionate care has a way of filling up the driest places.

That inexplainable love can actually feel like it saves us when we receive it in our darkest hour.

I don’t think that’s far from true - or at least a reflection of the Truth. Because the real, capital-T Truth is that we are saved by the generous love of a God who laid down His life for us when we had nothing to offer. He knew we wouldn’t stay connected, only show up when we’re desperate, and have nothing to offer. Yet He pre-chose to usher in a love that saves us and sets us free. He trusts us to open our hands and lives to others so they can have a taste of what it feels like to be saved by grace.

Listen to “For the One” by Brian and Jenn Johnson.