Kingdom Love

In some ways I consider it... a tragedy that I feel the need to write this the way I have in mind to write it. For one thing, I'm going to share some stuff that to be honest, shouldn't be publicized. I could be accused of trying to make myself look good or trying to impress people. Unfortunately, there are some actions I took while I was crazy that... for the people involved, there is some ambiguity about my motivation, or even some beliefs that in fact I was being manipulative or worse. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm not trying to defend my actions. I'm arguing that while some of the choices I made were inappropriate, my motives were of kingdom love. That is one of my reasons for writing this. The other reason, is that christendom has failed us in teaching what genuine love looks like, and as a group, Christians tend to do the bare minimum, or nothing at all. I abhor this, and have for some time. This message is designed to encourage believers to treat people... as if Jesus were an extravagant lover, and that we should actually be the same.

Here are some examples of how this has looked like in the past, before the moments in question happened, in my life. Please don't judge me too harshly for sharing these things- honestly I'd prefer not to. However, I think this needs to be written, so the question about my motivation for doing what I did (not what I'm talking about here: these things I am writing about here happened awhile ago, and before now I hardly told anybody) can be completely put to rest. Hopefully this ends the issue.

I had a friend, who was sleeping on an air mattress- not the kind that are meant to last, but the cheap kind that you get at the store. He calls me up in the middle of the night because it popped. Now, he needs to get a good night's sleep. I think it was around 3:30 AM or some such ungodly hour, and I was asleep when he called. My first plan was to wire him the money to get another air mattress from Walmart, but I went to two or three places and that plan just wasn't working. I decided to take my air mattress, and my sleeping bag, and drive to Springfield, where my friend is. According to Google maps, it is about an hour's drive. I think it took longer than that. All told, I think it took me three and a half to four hours to do it all. I'll be truthful here- I don't know that I would have done this for a stranger. This was a friend. Still, I believe that is what kingdom love looks like.

I had a friend that I made through working at a convenience store who needed a phone so he could get calls from employers, and needed a ride to Albany and back so that he could get work. Now, for the phone, I really wanted to get him something that would meet the need for a substantial time period. I bought a "pay as you go" phone that got double minutes for any new minute cards he got, plus I got him a card that gave four hundred minutes plus a year of service. I believe the original bill came to $150, though for some reason I only got charged $130. After paying for all this, I gave it to him when I picked him up to take him to Albany. I spent most of the day taking him to the temp agencies around Albany. I also got the phone set up for him, because he's not the most technically savy person. And I did these things, because I loved him.

Other examples- I've given several hitchhikers rides, a few times way, way out of my way. Once I even pulled an all-nighter driving someone to their destination in Rockaway Beach, about 2.75 hours from here one way. I have no idea how many times I've bought people food, I've bought many people varying amounts of gasoline, and generally I take care of my peeps and try to meet every need that is within my reach. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I think this is what genuine love means. For those of you who believe my motives were evil for the other stuff, well, draw your own conclusions, but I have a clear conscience. For everyone else- try to remember we serve a king who left heaven, whose first night of sleep was not in a fancy crib but instead a feeding trough, who had no home of his own, never took a wife, and who lived his whole life as an other-centered person. Go and do likewise.