helping with katrina...

yesterday while picking up mac, i heard a great story on public radio. a woman in oregon was interviewed about her idea to adopt a family from the hurricane ravaged area of new orleans or mississippi. this woman and her husband were willing to drive south FROM OREGON, to find a family to take home with them! when the interviewer asked her how long she was willing to keep this family, she responded "for as long as it takes!"....NOW THAT'S JESUS!

this woman from a far away northwestern state, was ready to open her home to a stranger...or strangers...for as long as the need was there....
sounds like a parable i know of...

this oregonian woman said some of her neighbors were thinking this same thing...opening their homes to the refugees from the south.
she was posting an ad to this affect on a web site (sorry i didn't catch the name of th site, but something like an "ask jeeves" site that everyone else has probably heard about)
but so far she hadn't had anyone answer her add, she felt this was due to lack of internet access.
my buddy andrew jones has some other good ideas on his blog...including this concept of opening your home to a stranger...
Download TallSkinnyKiwi.html
my mom in nashville is considering opening her home to a family as well...she has a great spot for this. she has lots of extra bedrooms.

now there are loads of folks around who have a spare room, or even more than one, that could be opened up to someone who now has NOTHING.

you may be like me, with a small house, one bathroom, not a lot of extra space.
i was thinking about this and realized that i may not easily be able to house someone myself, but i could find a few friends who might go in on adopting a family together and finding them an apartment in our neighborhood. we have great schools and folks who could find furnishings, clothes etc. to help out with necessities.

and another thought...i have felt moved by this tragedy to look at my local neighbors who are in pain and in trouble...am i willing to get outside my box, my busyness, my agenda, my own stuff to show compassion and serve them?

SO, if we are really followers of jesus...and we are really called to love our neighbors, how can we and are we willing to.. open our hearts and our homes and our wallets to all of "the least of these" and the refugees on our own soil?