"Nice Christians"

Bible study in the park was interesting last night. A neighbor who saw my King Ave yard sign came over and asked me about the church. She hadn't been to church since she was a young child and wanted to explore Christianity. I invited her to come with me to our Thursday evening Bible Study in the park and she did.

Then during the class a beautiful yellow lab came over and sat right beside me. Her owner, a young woman from the neighborhood stopped to get her. However the dog wasn't going to budge. She seemed determined to join the group! Maybe it was the brownies that she smelled, I don't know, but I would like to believe that God works in many ways including through our pets.

After several minutes of coaxing, it became evident that the dog was not moving. Her owner thanked us for being so nice to her dog and asked what kind of group we were. We told her we were a bible study group, to which she responded, "Wow, nice Christians! I don't know many of those."

That simple statement broke my heart. She went on to say that she had left her childhood church and left Christianity because she found Christians to be judgmental and even sometimes cruel. She had many gay and lesbian friends and said she couldn't go to a church that would not include them.

Immediately, the group responded with invitations to the Blessing of the Animals and to Morning Blend on Sunday. One member of the group told her that she was a lesbian and hadn't been to church in 20 years until she found King Ave. Everyone assured her that both she and her friends would be welcome.

She responded by saying that it was funny to run into us because she had been thinking a lot about her spiritual journey lately and had just begun to pray again after years of abstaining.

Now here is the really amazing part. Once she promised to come to the Blessing of the Animals and maybe to come Sunday, her dog got up, ready to go home!

I went home last night in awe of God's goodness, thinking about the lesson of humble patience.

The yard sign had been up in my yard since Easter. This is our second summer in the park. I was about to give up on both and to be honest was feeling a little sorry for myself because my projects seem to never attract more than 6-8 people - a failure in church growth circles.

Then we had the opportunity to touch two people looking for God and a faith they can believe in. Maybe neither of them will ever become church members at King Ave but I believe that both of them will remember that they met Christians who welcomed the stranger with the love of Christ.

Where have you had the opportunity to plant seeds of Christ's love and hope?