Summer has finally arrived in all its steamy heat here on the St Johns River. When we lived in England we always laughed at the British pre-occupation with the weather, but truth to tell, we do the same now. “Hey Google – what is the temperature in DeLand today?” is pretty much the way I address the kitchen when I walk in for tea every morning. For some reason, this little bit of information, which can’t actually change anything, makes me feel strangely in control of my day. 😊

This is the problem with much of our device-controlled world – it creates an illusion, a pretense of what one can taste, see or share. Let me admit that my file of recipes-to-be-tried is huge, and I have collected enough quotes and poetry to produce a number of volumes! I comfort myself that it’s proof I’m still curious about the possibilities of my world, but I am aware these things only gain true substance and meaning when I take them out of collection to share with real people, face-to-face, in acts of hospitality and encouragement.

I love the way our Lord Jesus always exerted himself on our behalf. He shared himself liberally, despised the judgments of hypocritical religion and deliberately touched the fringes of his society with tenderness and kindness, with words of encouragement, with prayers for their diseased bodies. He was always where the people were, even when their demands of him drained his all too human body of energy. Then he was careful to take time out with his Father, only to return and give his restoration away again and again in love and compassion. Why does it seem to take us so long to learn this lesson?

I admit, people are hard work, and it’s so much easier to hit the ‘share’ button’ than it is to invite the needy into our personal space and be Jesus to them. Many years ago, in the early days of CfaN in South Africa there was a chorus Reinhard loved to sing and it lay long forgotten till it surfaced in my heart a while ago when we stopped at a red light long enough to read the ragged piece of cardboard held up to passersby, mostly in vain. Like you, we too have heard the reasonable arguments against giving to beggars, but ours is not to judge how whether our meager gift is used well. It is only, ever, our privilege as disciples of Christ to be his hand extended. For many, you and I are the only visible expression of the Someone they have yet to get to know. Can there be any higher aim or any greater calling than to simply be HIS hand extended? As John Wesley said: Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can…

“Oh to be His hand extended,

Reaching out to the oppressed.

Let me touch Him, let me touch Jesus,

So that others may know and be blessed.”

‍