How Versus Why

     There's warmth and light emanating from the glass double doors. You can almost hear the laughter and conversation echoing inside. Juxtapose that against the angry echo chambers online, the sympathy, lack of sympathy, and sensational news reports dinging phones and constantly reminding  us that this is the largest scale winter disaster in over 30 years. The hows are pitted against the whys today. How can we help versus why did this happen. I can tell you as a returning resident of Texas and a joyful member of the hows today, it is a much better place to be. There will always be time for whys later, people to hold accountable, systems to change, and policies to retool. We have plenty to discuss and lots of time that can be wasted online, and more feedback than you could ever dream of, and on Social Media nothing is demanded of us more than our time and attention. Community demands more than that, but also gives us something that is not exactly available on Instagram. We may be warm in our homes not being challenged or hurt, but there will always be something missing. In Proverbs 15:17 it talks about this phenomenon when it comes to where we live and how we commune, "Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred." It is better to live meagerly with people that love you, than have plenty with folks that you have to prove your value to. I used to search for a group pf people to love me for me, and now I have been called to create groups where kids are loved for who they are. Places where being left out is an option, but not the only option.

    Henry Kissinger once said to his fellow statesmen, never let a good disaster go to waste. For him, this was a chance to affect change on a meaningful level and pull the levers of power if but for a short time. I would like to proffer a different take on the opportunities of disaster. Folks take this as an opportunity to rely on someone else for a change, or help your neighbors, and finally build the relationships that will certainly last until the next "winterpocalypse" or the next wholesale disaster. There is a narrative, that people are using this disaster as an opportunity to get handouts or a leg up. I can assure the reader that case is typically the opposite. Asking for help seems to be the hardest thing to do for Texans during this time. Pride is a tricky issue when it comes to matching people with the resources needed to the resources available. It seems like an easy equation. A building that has space, heat, company, and food versus toughing it out at home. But it isn't that simple. 

    Everyone would prefer to be in the helper position rather than in need. Being in need is viewed as being less than in our culture, but in good theology, being needy is important to healthy relationships. Not needy in the sense of taking whenever the taking is available, but needy in the sense that you have an understanding that you are not complete. As a human being relating to other human beings, you have needs that can only be fulfilled by God and others. Without that understanding we can mistake independence for complete self sufficiency. As John Locke wrote, no man is an Island unto himself. Our needs and weaknesses are not negatives in God's standards, but opportunities for God to show his power best, when our power fails. 

    Don't miss an opportunity in the coming weeks to lean on another. To help one another. And if it seems like margin is running out, lean on God. Don't waste away online with hateful and vengeful posts, use your voice to help and get help. Walk  through the double glass doors instead to the warmth, the fun, the closeness and the community of the how. How can we help? Let us know. The truth of the matter is as simple as this. We are all equal already in the Kingdom of God. Our helping is not reaching down to pick up the lowly. It is a reaching across divides to hold our neighbors closely. That is what the hows are doing, and how they work best. Our church is filled with people of different needs, but we can be a better church when we realize that we're all needy. Needy for healthy relationships, for a caring community, and for God. It also serves those that are more prone to be ashamed of their need, to be reminded that God works most powerfully in our deficiency.