Under the Overpass

A few weeks ago, my friend Mary Elizabeth sent me a package (a really big one actually - thanks M.E.). Along with some food, cds, and various things, she sent me a book called Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski. I remembered her talking about it awhile back. Just by reading the backcover, I automatically knew it would be one of those really convicting books - the type that would make my life much easier if I just didn't read it. :) Then I wouldn't have to deal with the questions and thoughts that I have now. However, I did read it, and I was right in my assumption.

The premise of the book is this: These two guys, Mike and Sam, spent 5 months traveling as homeless men. This was not a project or anything. "He just needed to know if his faith in God was real-if he could actually be the Christian he said he was apart from the comforts he'd always known." The book tells of their 5-month journey and their encounters along the way. In the end, they made it through their entire journey and saw their faith in a different way. In Mike's words, "By God's grace we did what we set out to do, and learned alot along the way. For example: that faith is much more than just an "amen" at the end of the sermon on Sunday mornings, that the comfort and security we strive so hard to create for ourselves doesn't even come close to the 'life in full' that Christ promises; and that God is faithful and good, even when we're not." That statement says a whole lot, and I am stuck still stuck on it.

The shocking part of the book was the response of believers to the guys as they were living on the street as beggars. There were a few people who reached out to them, but there was also a huge majority of people and churches who completely turned them away or ignored them, just because of their appearance. To be honest, it made me mad, and thought "How hypocritical!" However, I soon realized that I was the guilty one. How many people have I steered clear of just because they were different from me. I'm not just referring to homeless people either. We are all guilty of it. We pick and choose into whom we invest our time. Of course, most the time, we choose the people like us - the people we have stuff in common with. That is not a bad thing of course, but it just leaves us with a pretty limited interaction with the world. I am beginning to think it also leaves us with somewhat of a limited interaction with God. What does it truly mean to follow God? That is not a difficult question to answer if you are just using words (all those Sunday School answers would work). But to answer that question using our lives, makes it a much tougher question. What does truly following God look like in our everyday lives? I think it looks alot different than I often portray it. I also think it involves loving and investing in the very people we try to steer clear of. I am just going to leave you with some of the closing comments of the book. These are the things I've been pondering.

• "Who are the people God has placed in your life that He is calling you to notice, to reach out to, to share His love with?"

• "What if following Him is hard? What if along the way He asks you to accomplish difficult tasks or to overcome intimidating obstacles? What if it requires more of you than you have to give? Listen, that's the way its' supposed to be. Those places of need are where you and I discover ourselves, our faith, and - best of all - our God. Its there in our wekaness, that He shows himslef true, faithful, powerful, gracious, and loving."

• "God probably isn't calling you to live on the streets like He did Sam and me, but He is calling you - like He does each of His children - to take important risks of faith that are unique to you and your opportunities. I doubt those risks will have to do with putting on a Christian acronym bracelet or a cross T-shirt. More likely, your journey will lead you toward utter dependence on the King of Kings and a resolution to follow Him wherever He may ask you to go. That might be to the streets, to your friends and family, to your neighbor, or to a stranger you haven't even met yet?"

• Ask yourself this question: "What would I do during my day or in my life for God if I wasn't concerned with what I wear, what I eat, where I sleep, what I own, what people think of me, or what discomforts I face?"

• "This Jesus we follow is the Redeemer of the world. This God we serve is the Rock on whom we stand. He's sure, steadfast and worthy of our trust. He's calling us to live this life abandoned to Him, encouraged at all points by His Spirit, and His Word and His people, looking to Him for all we need. There's only this left to do: Walk off the edge with Him."