FLY AWAY ANGELS

Last month, Jason and Ervin, came to stay with us while they mentored fatherless young men as part of the Navigator's Shoulder to Shoulder summer program. Before they arrived, I wondered if they would turn out to be angels in disguise

Those seven weeks are over and the boys left our home this weekend. All four of them. 

Four? I thought you said “two.” Yes, midway through the seven weeks, Andrew and Noel moved in, too. All four of them uniquely blessed our home and the lives of the young men in Del Paso Heights.

Noel, Ervin, Andrew, Jason

To Jason: Thank you for your fatherly spirit, for your wit and for your willing attitude to “do whatever it takes.”

To Ervin: Thank you for your bright smile and the energy with which you fill a room.

To Andrew: Thank you for your example of generosity—taking the couch in the open space with no privacy and never a complaint.

To Noel: Thank you for your example of prayer and fasting, which was an encouragement to others.

And to Jason Jew one of the interns from two years ago: Thank you for visiting us and showing us the power of the Navigator team. 

To the girls who were part of Shoulder to Shoulder this year, Katie, Loraley and Amy: Thank you for the girl-ness you brought into this house when you visited. There were days I’d peer into the mirror wondering if that hair on my chin was a result of so much testosterone in the house. You were a gentle breeze filling my woman’s heart—and surely the hearts of the mothers you mentored at Shoulder to Shoulder.

Maybe these young men and women aren’t celestial angels. But surely they were the next best thing to the Del Paso young men and their mothers. I thank God for their lives and pray that they will be used by Him for His glory now and forever.

 

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for instilling in our hearts a desire to share your love with others. Thank you for placing people in our lives who reflect your light and your love. Please encourage us, Lord, to be your hands and feet in the world and to go wherever we are needed or be a support to those who go where we cannot. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Have you had an opportunity to provide support for someone who is doing God’s work? How did that change you?

OPEN HOUSE

Yesterday, Jason and Ervin came to live with us. Only for six weeks, but for those six weeks, we have two new sons and they have a new home base. They will be mentoring fatherless middle school boys as part of a summer program with Shoulder to Shoulder in Sacramento. 

Two years ago we had two different young men stay with us as they worked with Shoulder to Shoulder. I’m not sure how blessed they were; but we were definitely blessed by their presence in our home.

We look forward to being similarly blessed by Jason and Ervin.

Of course, when the call came requesting our spare bedroom—as usual—my initial reaction was to wonder “how will this personally put me out?”

<sigh> Obviously God’s still got a lot of work to do in me.

In fact, my first thought was, “I won’t be able to lounge around in my PJs in the evening for six whole weeks.”

Are you laughing? After I stopped laughing at myself, too, I realized that such a “hardship” wouldn’t really be so hard after all.

It was at that point, amid the chuckling, that I heard the voice on the Bible CD playing in my head—of the Apostle Paul writing Hebrews 13:2.

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

I’ll have to let you know if Jason and Ervin turn out to be angels. One thing I am sure of: they will be the hands of feet of Jesus to the fatherless boys they will be mentoring. That’s about as close to being an angel as us mortals can get.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help us be attuned more closely to the Holy Spirit so that our first reaction to a need is graciousness. Please continue to work on us so that we become closer to your example, Jesus. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Have you had a time in your life that called for graciousness and discovered that it was actually your first response? Or, like me, does graciousness take a little more effort?