At our church, we’re fond of saying we love our city.
It’s a way of stating our commitment to serve where we live. Our missions team isn’t just involved “over there,” we’re embedded in service work within our community.
It occurs to me that loving my city, or my church, is relatively easy. The hard part, the messy part, the part I sort of avoid…is loving actual, individual people.
Because, to be honest, some of us (like me) are difficult to love.
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Jesus told a famous story about loving and serving “uncomfortable” people.
But it’s easier and safer to pick and choose where I serve to avoid any annoyance or inconvenience. Easier and safer to “serve” without interacting with folks who might have disagreeable beliefs or lifestyles, folks who’ve made choices I don’t like.
It occurs to me that following Jesus isn’t supposed to be about my personal preferences.
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THE FREEDOM TOUR supports 22 children at Project Rescue’s Home of Hope in south Asia. We can’t be more specific because it’s a politically sensitive area.
Our kids and their circumstances aren’t comfortable.
For us, human trafficking is not just an issue. It’s about individual kids rescued from exploitation. We are passionate about seeing individuals who have been enslaved experience hope and freedom.
Instead of raising money to globally fight “the issue” of human trafficking, we’ve chosen to build a 10-year relationship with the people at a specific safe house in a horrible place to provide care for children who were rescued from brothels. We know the children whose lives are being changed as Jesus uses our efforts in this uncomfortable circumstance.
We’ve watched our kids grow and flourish during the past decade. We celebrated Saloni’s graduation (Saloni’s Story) last spring. We look forward to more of them moving on as productive adults and watching as more children are rescued.