Family

I am more convinced than ever that this life that we live is better lived in community, and that community being with fellow Christians.  We call our congregation here in NM a faith family, and that’s because we try to treat each other as family.  That means that we take care of each other.  Do we always get along?  No.  But what family does?

We are a family simply because of our relationship with Jesus.  We, as Christians, are Christ followers, and therefore we are brothers and sisters in Christ.  And because of that bond, we need to help take care of each other, in the good times and the bad.  But our faith family should be more than just the church that we choose to attend.  Our faith family, in all reality, should be anyone who follow Jesus.  Anyone who is a disciple is your brother or sister, and that means we should be trying to help take care of each other even more.

And the events of today that took place in TN around my mom have proven that this is how the Church or  Christ followers should interact with each other.  My mom lives alone, and when you get a phone call from one of her neighbors asking if she is ok, it’s a little unnerving.  But at the same time, that neighbor was helping to take care of and look out for my mom.  I’m 1,400 miles away, and had no idea that something was wrong, but a neighbor, and fellow Christian called because there was an ambulance in my mom’s driveway.

Turns out, my mom had gotten her feet tangled in a heater cord and fallen.  She landed on her left arm and snapped her humerus, but was able to get to her phone and call 911.  She was taken to the hospital and got the treatment that she needed, but the family aspect of being taken care of doesn’t end at my mom’s neighbor calling me.

Some how, a man from her church found out what was going on, and showed up at her house to check on her.  A lady from a Wednesday morning Bible study that she attends was there, along with my aunt making sure the dogs were taken care of and anything else that my mom needed taken care of.

As a minister, I understand the role of checking in on and praying for someone in the hospital.  Well, it turns out the staff of mom’s church is on a staff retreat this week, but the church has stepped in to take care of her.  One of the elder’s almost immediately called me to make sure I knew what was going on.  I don’t even know how he knew.  He told me to keep him updated when I found out what hospital she was being taken to.  I did, and then found out from my aunt that another elder and his wife showed up at the hospital almost at the same time that they arrived.  They stayed with them the whole time, and ended up taking mom home after she was discharged, so that my aunt could go home and pack a bag to stay with my mom.

There have been countless comments and prayers being offered through social media.  The same neighbor that called me initially has already offered to take mom supper at some point this week, and promised to help take care of her since we are so far away.  I tell you all of this to say the following:  That is what being a Christ follower is all about.  Taking care of each other.  We are family.  Yes, there are times we don’t agree, but our bond of being brothers and sisters in Christ should trump those disagreements.  We have other things that we are called to as being Christians, but one thing we have got to remember is that we’ve got each other’s backs; NO MATTER WHAT!  Seeing it in action over the last several hours, even from 1,400 miles away, gives me hope that we can all remember to treat each other with love and respect.  Not being able to be there for my own mom is hard, but knowing that she has a family bigger than just blood makes me so thankful that I get to be a part of this bond of brothers and sisters in Christ.