One of the songs I enjoyed was “Your Gonna Miss This”. The song is about a young woman, who at every stage of her life is wanting to hurry and get to the next. Along the way there are several people who warn her to slow down, enjoy the journey, because these days are gonna go by too fast, and then she will miss them. You know, she is going to regret wishing her life away.

So many times in life I have heard a song, or someone made a good point, that on the surface sounded really good…..but then the Spirit of God will come along and put a question in my mind, “Is that really true?” While I enjoyed this song and could even identify with it’s point, there is that nagging question! I had to think long and hard about what bothered me about the song. It’s the regrets! While the song is sentimental and moves my emotions, as a child of God there is no room for regrets. Philippians 3:13 “…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”

At this point you may be wondering what this has to do with serving refugees. Everything! I want to encourage myself and others, while it is so easy to pine away with regrets, it is so much more fulfilling to just press on. So many in our culture want to sit down in their later years and just reminisce about the good old days or wallow in the pain of regret. Instead, why not pour out our lives serving those who have been less fortunate than ourselves. Let’s encourage the younger generation to enjoy the journey of their lives, but let’s not set them up for regrets!

We were living in an apartment complex. Every Sunday and Wednesday a local church sent a bus into our neighborhood to pick up any children that wanted to go. Since the bus driver treated everyone to Dunkin Doughnuts after service, I was all too eager. One of the women I met was named Judy. She took my sister and I under her wing.  After Wednesday night AWANA Club she would often drive us home. I remember one evening when Judy was driving. We were speeding down a busy highway. I thought it would be funny to yell “red light”. When I did she began to come to a stop. Once she realized the light was still green she continued on. She then thanked me for reminding her how she needed to pay attention to the road more than what was going on inside the car! I remember being dumbfounded! My Mother would have scolded me good. She would have lectured me for the next five minutes on what I had done wrong, and that attitude would have encouraged me all the more to try and get on her nerves. It was Judy’s patience and kindness that led me at 8 years old to want to know the God she served. It was one of those defining moments in life!

Fast forward to today. I have been working with a couple of refugee families for a few months now. And at times it has been exhausting! There have been a few days I wanted to go home, shut the blinds, and pull the covers over my head!! And I did. But I have found something different at work in my life lately. LOVE!!! This powerful love that has allowed me to lay down every expectation I have of these people and just serve them. You see…they have lived a life I cannot even begin to imagine. So when they horde everything they are given, and then lie and say they need more; well….the justice side of me wants to make them understand just why they can’t do that. When I see them spending their money frivolously, instead of paying their bills, and mind you, I know that money is coming from my hard earned tax dollars. Well, I really want to jump on that! Oh, but the love, mercy, and grace of God has melted my heart once again. I don’t need to protect my stuff. Even if the motive of their hearts is to take advantage or lie or whatever. If I realize that nothing is more important than they are, and if everything I have I freely give, then nothing they say, do, or any way they act is not going to change my attitude of love toward them!

It is not my job to save these people! It is not my job to change these people! It is my job to serve them and to love them. That is what Judy did with me all those years ago. She realized I had come from a place she did not understand and all she could do was serve me and love me, and that led me to Christ! God has and will continue to give me opportunity and seasons to speak into these lives. And prayerfully they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but until that day I will continue to learn just how much the Father loves me as I give away all that I have to them!

John (not his real name of course) is 25 and has been in this country for about five months. He was able to learn a good deal of English before coming and is eager to learn all he can. I am still not sure how people are chosen to be able to come to America, but he came, even though it meant leaving behind his entire family! He hopes they will come soon, but in the mean time he works and saves, awaiting their arrival. He shares an apartment with another single man. They both work entry level jobs, which means hard labor for minimum pay. But I have yet to hear him complain. He is grateful for the opportunity to have a future! Since John knows the way to have what he needs is to work and save he has chosen to forgo the bus fare card and instead rides his bike thirty minutes to and from work. He has also begun to study for his GED and driver’s license. Not only is he diligent in his work and studies, but he is also kind and gentle.

I cried this morning as my husband and I read of the lives of the Burmese refugees. I put myself in the shoes of a mother, watching her 25 year old son leave for a far away place. I thought of this young man who has no family member to wrap their arms around him and comfort him at a moments notice. I thought about how cold and rainy it was last night as he rode his bike home from work, somewhere around midnight. And I pray! I pray he will stay healthy. That he will not be mugged, as he lives in a community notorious for crime. But most of all I pray he will see Christ as we give ourselves to serve him. That he will know the peach that passes understanding, and the hope of life, far better than just coming to America.

I think it is comical now; what I have been led to believe witnessing was all about. I could fill a chapter in a book. I am beginning to understand that my witness is the love of God in me for my fellow man. It begins with the tangible things I can do. Like buying a pair of long underwear so John can stay warm on his nightly bike trip to and from work.

I have so much in my heart to write about. I want to write more about my new friends and what I have learned about the love and witness of Christ. And mostly, I want my ramblings to entice others to join me on this journey of being a true disciple of Jesus Christ as we give ourselves away in the building of His glorious kingdom with people from every tribe and tongue! And in America, these people are moving into our backyard!

While my personal journey has taught me much about the organizations we rely upon for answers, it has taught me even more about my own selfish nature! I have given more excuses in my 20 + years of being a Christian. I would easily throw my hands up and “surrender all” to His Lordship, but then I had children, ball games, family, youth group, a job, grandchildren (soon I hope),  and on and on the list goes. These were not bad things, they were just my things. I don’t remember many times when I really just asked Jesus what He wanted me to do! AUGH!! As far as the needs of the world goes; well, I was faithful to give my tithes and offerings, and to pray for laborers. I even went on a couple of short term missions trips! But in three short years everything has changed. I left the organized institution of religion and found other disciples of Jesus Christ on the same path as me. I also found the Spirit of Christ in strangers in my own back yard.

My prayer is that through this blog many others will be hooked into the idea of serving the Lord right where they live today. Refugees are flooding into this country and are being disbursed into communities across the nation. The world and its organizations cannot handle the needs that are present in society. They only know how to apply a band aid. We, the church of Jesus Christ, have the answers! So, in the weeks to follow we hope to share with you our struggles and our triumphs as we learn to serve the strangers among us, by loving our Lord with all that is within us, and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. It’s funny how I’ve read so many of these words so many times and now, suddenly, they have become life!

I belong to a house church and we had been praying about how to get involved in our neighborhood and in the nations. We began last year by supporting 10 orphans in Burma. My husband and I are good friends with the founders who visited our house church earlier this year. While here, they invited our church to join them on a trip to Burma to visit our 10 orphans, to put hands and feet to our monthly pledge. They also inspired us to bless the nations by getting involved with refugees here in our own town. After they left, I made a phone call to the Refugee and Immigrations Office of Hampton Roads. I talked to the director and explained that we were interested in getting some information about refugees in our community. When I asked which people group in our area had the greatest need she promptly replied “BURMESE.” So, orphans in Burma, a trip to Burma, and now we were going to adopt two refugee families from Burma only 5 miles from our house!

it has been several months now since we have been meeting with these lovely people.  initially it was somewhat awkward but i have to say that now we are best of friends.  we have been involved in every aspect of their lives.  it has been one of the best experiences for our house church.  a simple act of obedience in serving has turned into  great relationships with these families.   we have gone from “meeting” with them to “visiting” with them.   we have had the best of times and hilarious times in developing our communication skills.

you will never experience anything like this–the privilege of being the “Light and Love of Christ” to the “stranger in our land”.

i would like to encourage you to get involved—more stories next time

kim