With the beginning of the new year, we want to wish all of our friends and supporters many blessings in 2025. On Jan 6, I boarded a flight to Kenya, and I began writing this update to you 37,000 feet above the North African desert. I’ll share more about my trip in a future letter. This update is about the final days of 2024.
A week before Christmas, I was visiting our friends who live on the streets of New York. I had packed resources for the specific needs I knew of and some additional items. I made my way down the street where Naomi and I have developed relationships with the homeless. The sanitation department was there, kicking them from their sidewalk home and throwing away their few possessions. It was painful to watch. I helped one of my friends with her belongings. In spite of all her needs, she wanted to know how Naomi and I were doing. She told me that she needed a coat. Though I had one with me to share, I had made plans to deliver it to another woman in Penn Station.
I helped more friends in Penn Station, but it was a no-show for the person I’d promised the coat. It was the size needed by our other friend, so I went back to where we’d last seen her. I found her in a church trying to get warm. She was very excited and grateful for the coat.
However, the mood changed quickly when two men approached me.
One said, “I’m pastor Brian, and this is not a church for the homeless.”
I told him that our friend was cold and needed a coat. He then complained of the homeless being fed outside and leaving trash. I told him, “I’m just trying to follow the way of Jesus.”
Immediately I could tell by the look on his face that the pastor of this big church did not want to hear that from someone off the street. He turned and walked away to work on their nativity display. Our friend was angry, and l apologized about the abuse from sanitation and the pastor.
The pastor overheard. He said, “be quiet – people are trying to pray.”
I eventually walked over to the nativity and stood there trying to process what I just experienced. The pastor snapped, “Do you need something?”
No, but after some time, I had a prayer to offer that day as well, a prayer out loud of gratitude. “Thank you, Jesus, for bringing the Good News to the poor.”
All this was transpiring while the men were trying to find the perfect place for the baby Jesus figure – the Jesus who said in Matt 25: 34-36: “I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was homeless and you gave me a room. I was shivering and you gave me clothes. I was sick and you stopped to visit. I was in prison and you came to me.”
While this pastor was searching for a place for the baby Jesus, Jesus himself wasn’t welcome in his church. Once again, no room at the Inn.
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I have one final update.
The Saturday before Christmas, my dad was admitted to a local hospital ICU. He had battled leukemia (CLL) for several years, and his health had been deteriorating rapidly in recent weeks. A few days later, he was transferred to a larger hospital ICU. He was so weak that he couldn’t carry on a complete sentence. When we visited him on Christmas Day, he could sit up in bed and interact with us. We didn’t know what an amazing gift this was at the time.
He was never the same again and passed away Dec 30. Experiencing this five days after remembering Jesus’ birth is a reminder of the eternal life that we have in him. This gives me peace and confidence that I will join my dad someday in God’s restored kingdom.
One thing that I want to acknowledge about my dad is his compassion and how it impacted the trajectory of my life. When I was a boy, I would go with my dad to visit a man in our hometown.
This man’s living conditions were deplorable in comparison to this lower middle class community. When we visited Tom, he would open the door and my senses would be overwhelmed by the smell of his inadequacies to bathe and the two dogs that lived with him. My dad always took him a meal and maybe a hat, gloves, or shirt. The smile on his face and the gratitude for such small gifts impacted me.
Although I experienced this 50 years ago, it still influences what I do today. As I think about the small gifts to Tom or the small efforts Naomi and I manage for some of the news of the marginalized in our world today, God’s economy is evident.
He has been helping me understand that he is not defined by scarcity, but by abundance. What we have to give is comparable to the five pieces of bread and two small fish [Matthew 14:14-21]. Then we see God multiply it to accomplish more than we could imagine.
We’re witnessing God’s economy in another situation that happened on the Friday before Christmas. Our car was in its parking spot at NYSUM. A large box truck rear ended our car. Due to the damage, the insurance adjuster decided our faithful Corolla was totaled. Well, this wasn’t part of our year-end plan for 2024!
However, the Living God that we serve is already at work bringing good from this accident!
Yes, we love him, and we will give you more details later of how he is providing for us yet again. He is the only one who makes all things work together for good.
I had a Jan 2 departure for Kenya but due to my dad’s funeral I had to rebook. Lord willing my return flight is March 19. I will give you updates on my Kenya visit later.
BLIP 