Everybody, Always

It reminded us about how God didn’t pick Jerusalem. He picked relatively
unappreciated places like Bethlehem and Nazareth to gather people
around Jesus. I put up our house as collateral, and we rented the
convention center. An amazing group of musicians and speakers agreed
to come for little more than pizza and directions home. Thousands of
people came, and we put lots of their money in a huge bowl. We told
people if they needed some to take it and if they had more than they
needed to put some in. We left the money out overnight for the
convention center staff in case they needed it. When we were done, we
gave away all the money from the event to people who were poor and
hurting and needed some help. This is what the early church did. They
made their own economy by making themselves and their resources
available to everyone. They did this because they were becoming love.
Whether we want to or not, we end up memorizing what we do
repeatedly. It’s the way we were wired from the factory. Because this is
how we’re made, it’s a great idea to pick actions worth repeating. People
who are turning into love do this. They adopt beautiful patterns and
surrounding imagery for their lives. They fill their lives with songs,
practices, and habits that communicate love, acceptance, grace,
generosity, whimsy, and forgiveness. People who are becoming love
repeat these actions so often they don’t even realize they’re doing it
anymore. It’s just finger memory to them.
They don’t need anyone to clap for them. They don’t need validation
for things they know are inherently right and true and beautiful. They
don’t need all the accolades that come with recognition. They also don’t
feel a need to criticize people who have gotten a couple of things wrong
or hit a couple of sour chords in their lives.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten to the end of the day more
than a few times and realized my untucked shirt was uneven at the
bottom. I’m usually just one button off but sometimes two. The fact is,
some of the people who have shaped my faith the most were a couple of
buttons off on theirs. They’ve made some big mistakes. Run toward these