that porch by debenhams...

Today I met a friend sat in the familiar porchway next to debenhams, strangely the a favourite place of another homeless friend in the past.

I'd gone out to get some space from the claustrophobia in my office and the mounting claustrophobia in my head from a busy morning.

Like most days, i hadn't really taken notice of my moravian daily scriptures, although they echoed in the back of mind as i walked out of the office in search of some fresh air and space for my head to cool down and switch off a bit.

Happy are those who consider the poor; the Lord delivers them in the day of
trouble. Psalm 41:1

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Matthew 5:7

Taff hadn't been around for a long time, so i stopped to talk and found out he'd got a promotion so to speak. he'd got his own place and was moving out of his rehab type half way house place, but needed to move out before tomorrow, and to his clear distress, 'no one' was helping.

I didn't want to go back to the office, and i felt i couldn't just leave him there. I couldn't be like 'oh well, see ya'!?...i heard myself tell him i'd take him back and help him. he got up straight away and we walked together to the car. we picked his stuff up and went back to town and moved him in. nice flat. his first having been on this road for fourteen years. it was worth celebrating.

As we left, I heard myself again. I was offering to pray for him. I was praying already. thanking God for his miracle and provision, praying for God to be in the house and for Taff and all his visitors to know it, to bring peace, to bring safety, to change it from a shell into a home. we both said 'amen', and I believe, God moved in.

A coffee, 5 sugars and a celebratory muffin later, we said our goodbyes as he took his place back under the porch next to debenhams.

This was a great opportunity to show the love of Christ. but there's a long way to go until i start just 'being' Christlike - for Christ to inhabit my nature. I want to be frank, this post isn't meant to make my deeds look good, the post is here as a stark indicator of how far i have to go. if I were truly Christlike, this wouldn't be such a one off thing to do, and it certainly wouldn't become the most interesting blog post of the week! The coolest thing about this post is what God has done.

As Taff makes progress in staying clean off his addiction, there's a long way for many of us to lose the addiction of our self image. it wastes a lot of time. When Jesus talks of the sheep and goats, the sheep are surprised when he applauds them: "when did we do this Lord?!" they humbly reply...they weren't focussed on themselves, continually evaluating their good deeds, they just did them because the life of Christ compelled them to. They praised God for what he was doing and almost missed the fact that they had a part to play. They just knew the privilage of being involved. They received mercy, because they were merciful.

Today I thank God for taff, and for letting spend an hour or so with him, for letting me pray in his house. But I look forward to the day when this isn't such a shocking thing to do.