Relational Living

“Keeping company with Jesus we become insiders to the creation. It is not something ‘out there’ that we can adopt or ignore as we will. We can’t walk away from creation in order to attend to the Spiritual life. We are embedded in the creation; we are integral to the creation.”

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places – Eugene H. Patterson

One of the hardest things to express in words is the ability to verbalize the importance of relationships in the Christian walk. In my walk through recovery and grief, it has become the most vital aspect of my life. My story and Will’s story takes on meaning only through relationships with other people. This is the power in grief support groups. We are able to share our experiences and it becomes real to us and we can work through the grief process together. The Holy Spirit power is manifested and multiplied in connections with other believers. That is witnessed in the transformation of a lady who joins a church after experiencing the change in her own heart and grows beyond her circumstances.

Almost all of my growth has been through the interactions with other people. Prayer life also plays a big part, but again, that is a relational discussion with God. In this walk I have become acutely aware of the power of the Body and without the world wide outreach during Will’s crises and the support of my church, I would not be where I am emotionally today. That love was present before the accident. It is one of the reasons that Will was who he became. It was the relationship to the Body that carried us through this trying time.

This became evident to me as I traveled to Haiti and shared Will’s story and shared my life. I got to extend the love of my church Body to a little boy that had very limited experience with the love of Jesus. Because my church and community loves and has a relationship with the Haiti Mission Team, we got to travel and extend that love to others. Because the Mission Team loves the people of Haiti we followed our calling and entered into relationships with the Haitians. All this love begins with God and is witnessed in His Son Jesus Christ.

John 1:10-17

He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to what was His own, and His own people did not accept Him. But to all who received Him, who believed in His name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His Glory, the Glory of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”

This past Saturday, I spent time with my friends in the homeless community, some of the most disenfranchised people in the United States. I have grown to love the relationships I am building with this community. They pray for me and receive my prayer with gratitude. Yes, there are homeless Christians. In fact some are well versed in Scripture. This relationship and the fact that they are a Spiritual people reminds me just how broken the world is. Because of the lack of understanding, people tend to see their condition as something to avoid. Yet I have found that they can be some of the most beautiful souls to interact with. There is a couple that we visit that always puts a smile on my face. They may not always make the best decisions, I don’t either, but they are always open and extend a love to us that borders on hospitality. And yet they live in a tent. Who knows what impact we will have with them? Who knows what our relationship with them will do? That is up to God and His grace, but I know what that relationship has done for me. I have learned just how broken I am. There is no condemnation extended from this couple yet I begin to understand the concept of sin in my life and the international need for God’s grace. Getting outside of ourselves and sharing life openly with others reminds us of our own condition and thus opens our empathic ability to relate to others and allows us all to experience the healing and Grace offered by our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”

You may never know what experiences you will encounter and what you will learn.