Home is wherever with you.

Psalm 9:9, "The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble." 
Refugee: "A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave his or her home and seek refuge elsewhere."
This week was Refugee Relief with Phil Gazely. Phil is originally from the UK but currently residing in Cali. Pip pip Cheerio. Phil has been working with refugees all over the world. In counties I've never heard of. Like Mauritania. (It's in North Eastern Africa.) But do you know what I liked best about this weeks speaker (Aside from the British humour)? After all his traveling, he had so much knowledge about refugees! Even down to knowing things about Michigan! That is true passion. Being so involved in a cause that you can provide information about any given location that is relevant to your topic. I have so much respect for that. For example, did you know that Detroit has the highest population of Iraqis in the US? The population in Dearborn is 33.4% Arabic. How many of them do you think are refugees? Something we don't think about all that often. When I think of refugees I think of people living in tents in Africa. I don't think about my own state. Maybe it's because my hometown Petoskey is 94.18% white. We live in a bubble. Something that Phil said really struck me when he was talking about immigration. Controversial subject. But this is what he said, what if, what if immigration is God bringing the nations to us? What if God is bringing missions to us? If we don't go out, don't you think God would send the people to us? Our towns, where we live? I think so. Someone once said that immigration is the nicest form of flattery. We don't often think about it that way do we? I didn't realize how bad racism really was until I left my little 94.18% white town. What do you think about immigration? How do you think God sees it? Food for thought. What is communicated to us more: being a citizen of the United States or a citizen of the kingdom of God? So let's say we are living in the Kingdom of God. How do we bring it to refugees? What is more important dicipleship or evangelism? What do they need right then and there? Do they need to know how to shop for groceries, how to use the stove, and public transportation? Or do they need Christian-eze? I have to be honest with you, I am not an evangelist. I am not cut out for standing on a street corner and handing out tracks. That ain't me. And for a long time I struggled with that. I didn't realize that it's ok to be called to playing with kids and building relationship. So, back to the question, discipleship or evangelism? The Christian answer is both. But perhaps when working with refugees we should start with discipleship and build relationship. Maybe we don't like this answer, because discipleship is hard. You have to be in for the long haul. It goes beyond the five minute conversation about the track you just handed out. Discipleship and evangelism should go hand in hand. But I just like to throw in a few challenging thoughts. But why does this matter? Why should we care? It's not like Jesus was a refugee. Light bulb. Remember in Matthew 2 when Joseph, Mary, and baby-bumpkin Jesus fled to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod? That would make them refugees. He does care. Imagine that. A loving, caring God who's heart breaks for those who are forced to leave their countries. Did you know that 36.4 million people are forced into migration? And half of that figure are children. This means that 36.4 million people are forced from their homes, jobs, families, language, and security and into a completely new and untterly foreign situation. Shouldn't we do whatever we can to make their stay easier? We fight injustice in order to say, "I want to bring you the joy of the Lord to your heart amid all the grief and chaos you see." Sounds like a plan Stan. Let's go out and do it. If you're interest is sparked, you can give Al Horn a call and ask him about how to get involved in helping refugees in our very own Michigan. Click the link, make a call, pray, and go for it!


Quote of the week: "There are no refugees, no displaced persons here, ... They are our guests and we treat them as such.” - Mike Turner