Go! Go! Go! Come! Come! Come!

Echoing Jesus’ call

“Have you friends?”

“No, no friends in England.” 

It’s Sunday morning, a new visitor has arrived at the drop-in (we call it the Bridge because we want it to be a bridge from loneliness to friendship, hopelessness to hope, faith and a future). The visitor pulls his phone from his pocket and shows me some grainy, grey footage he has taken of himself, lying uncomfortably in the darkness in the back of a lorry, in transit from the Middle East.

He looks around at the rough faces of many of our Bridge visitors: hard times, hard lives, sometimes years of alcohol abuse, are etched on the contours of their worn faces. Others are just passing through, seeking work and finding the UK is not the land of opportunity they had hoped for or perhaps have failed asylum claims. In broken English my friend explains, “My country ... nothing like this  ... it's go, go, go.”

Language is limited. Our shared words are few. I attempt to explain: “With Jesus it’s ‘come, come, come'. That’s what makes the difference.”

I think he understood.

My friendless friend may well get moved on to another city. “Find the Christians,” I said! “Find a church where they say, ‘come, come, come!’”  

Saying ‘come, come, come’ is echoing the Master, after all: “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” We know, too, Jesus has many friends. My friendless friend, we can be yours too!

Ordinary People ... Extraordinary Hearts

Last week my friend Abdul (not his real name) had an appointment at the Solihull Home Office; he is an asylum seeker and and this was a particularly important one. He left well on time but unfortunately got on the wrong train.

Clearly Abdul wasn’t going to make it for the appointment. He felt upset and stressed when he found out his mistake. Sitting near him in the train was a middle-aged couple who noticed his angst as he relayed his problem to another person in the carriage. They were getting off the train shortly and, leaning over to Abdul, said, “No worries! We’ll get you to the Home Office on time!”

True to their word, at their station, the couple disembarked with Abdul, walked to the adjacent carpark and drove him all the way to Solihull and dropped his off outside the Home Office buildings - on time!

My friend, Abdul, was amazed by their generosity. “You are so kind!” he said.

The wife turned to him and said kindly, “But I would have done it for my son and I’ll do it for you!”

When Abdul came home he was euphoric. It was a miracle!” he told us.

It reminded me of another story told a long time ago: a man was walking to Jericho and fell into the hands of thieves and someone stopped ... and that made all the difference.

God often does His miracles through very ordinary people ... with quite extraordinary hearts.