Posted by
bethy31
at
7:05 AM
I am in Austin, Texas for a few days. Shout out to all my Texas readers. What a great state! Austin has an art program for its homeless population (can't remember what it is called). The homeless paint and once a year there is a huge art sale where they sell their art. The money is then used to help secure an apartment, clothing, food, etc. We walked around the art sale and I was blown away by their talent.
There were so many thoughts going through my head. One was how little separates us from homelessness. One man sat next to his art - scriptures written out with paintings above them. A woman started talking to him and he shared that he was trained as an attorney. The conversation went on but I lost track of it. Whether it was great grief, addiction, mental illness, or a loss that brought him to the streets, I don't know. What I do know is that there isn't much that separates us. I tend to like to think that I am a harder worker, wiser, or more cautious and that's why I have a warm bed and good food everyday. It isn't true. That doesn't mean I believe in the state taking care of everyone but it does lead me as a Christian to recognize that these are my brothers and sisters.
You wouldn't believe how many pieces of art there were about Jesus there. Haunting pieces. The kind that comes from walking through the valley with Jesus and really knowing Him. One piece that really stood out to me was from the man I mentioned above. He painted a picture of a paralytic dancing next to Jesus. Below it was the story of Jesus healing the paralytic. It says:
2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
What jumped off the page to me was this: I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. His reason for not receiving healing was a lack of community. He had no one to help him. Others stampeded over him and he sat there for 38 years HOPING for healing. With that confession, Jesus becomes his community and his healer and says, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."
Another thing that just hit me is that he said, "Pick up your mat and walk." It's as if Jesus is saying, "Your home is not here any longer. You have been healed. It's time to relocate from the place of pain and hoping to the place of healing." How great is our God?!
I pray God will show me where I need to seek community for healing and where I can be community for others in healing. He is good and His love endures forever!
