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i got an email from my friend andrew today. andrew was the founder of the 1010 project and just recently took a job with amnesty international in london. it’s been a tough few months as he has tried to make the transition from boulder, colorado to the other side of the globe…without his family. melia, his wife, along with konner and tanner, have had to wait back here in the states while they all finished the school year.
i know the days are growing longer and the wait must be incredibly difficult. he sent me a copy of the email he sent to melia after church yesterday. it blew me away. he invited me to share it with all of you:
i wanted to tell you about today – sunday….for some reason, i got up and went to church, the same church i went to last week. don’t know why i chose the same one – maybe it is because i knew where it was. i walked in and found a seat on my own, near the back somewhere…a man sitting behind me leaned in and asked me if it was my first time. i lied and said it was – it might as well have been. anyways, he came up and sat beside me. the song service began, and for some reason it was very emotional for me. it went on and on, with the leader allowing time and space for real worship, it seemed. i sat down and was weeping. the man let me be, but after a while he asked ‘ you ok??’ i just shook my head. he just let me be. finally, i asked him… ‘ please pray that my family can come, this week.’ he didn’t ask any details, but he just prayed. he prayed for a visa. he prayed for it to come on monday. he prayed that our family would be a family again. out loud. right there. in the middle of the service.
after he prayed, he told me he had to go. he took my mobile number and took off. i sat and listened to the sermon on my own, then after – another man came and sat beside me. he introduced himself and said the other guy told him about me. he asked about the family…., and he as well just prayed for me, for us. he told me to call him when our stuff arrives so he can get a bunch of guys to help us move in.
i got up to leave, and another man grabbed me and told me he saw me last week but did not get a chance to say anything. he took me back in to get my information and i told him what was up. he asked what i needed, and all i could say is my family. i said, ‘i know nothing of this place’, and he said back, ‘but we do.’ we can do most things, but we cannot read minds, he said to me.
as i went out the door to leave, i got my bike, and another man said to me, ‘nice bike – very nice bike.’ i agreed, of course, and we started talking bikes. he is a mountain biker, along with some other guys in this church. anyways, he asked, and i told him the same story about our family. he offered to lend us his car this week for when you land. offered to put me on the insurance so i could drive it…. they all are looking forward to meeting you and the boys next week. they all are praying.
imagine a church with that kind of fellowship…from men, no less.
this is what we are looking for.
a church with anything less than this is unacceptable.
anybody ready to take the challenge?
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