This isn’t my style.

I believe in the power of relationships and how God designed us to be avenues through which his love and grace and forgiveness and freedom flow. I believe that relationships are the number one way in which people step into the rhythm of Jesus. I believe this because this is my experience.

Don’t you find that a bit limiting?

We sat at the two fountains in our city. These particluar fountains are strategically located in the most consumeristic districts. We sat down with a sign that said “Listening and Prayer Available” and waited and prayed and waited and prayed….

It was a two hour wrestling match between me and God.
“This is stupid!” I would say.
“Be still!” He would say.
“No one is going to come and share anything with me. This isn’t how You work!” I would say.
“So you know how I work?” He would say.
“People are looking at us and laughing!” I would say.
“Keep watching.” He would say.
“Watching what?” I would say.
“My people–my kids–me Beloved.” He would say.
“Yeah, but this isn’t going to change anything for them!” I would say.
“This isn’t about them!” He would say.
“Oh–” I said….

And then I was still–
And then I realized that I don’t have the foggiest idea how God chooses to work–
And then I watched–
And then I began to see His Beloved–
And then my heart began to change–

What do you think when you drive down the main drag of your hometown and see this or that organization offering a “Free Carwash.”

I’ll tell you what I think–
If I pull over, then I am going to have to give them something. It’s really not free–in reality they are hoping that at the end of their semi-good exterior cleansing of my vehicle, I will roll down my window–give them a 10-spot and drive away. If I don’t give them anything, then I feel like a total cheap-skate and know that they will talk about the jerk in the maroon American car for the next three minutes.

As an experiment, we had signs made that literally said, “Free Carwash–No Donations Accepted.”

We should have had signs made that said $2.00 Carwash because we would have washed more cars (I think).

I chose to be the one standing alongside the road that I drive almost daily holding one of the signs. I’m not good at this kind of thing. I would rather be at the gas station participating in the washing instead of putting myself out there to “market” what we’re doing. I chose to do this, however, because I wanted to learn about myself by observing the reactions of my neighbors who drove past at high speeds.

People Group #1:
The majority of people paid little to no attention to me nor my sign. These people were the ones who were in a hurry to get from point A to point B and had no time, nor need to get a washed up.

People Group #2:
These were the ones who would look at my sign, then look at me and smile. It was as if I could hear their brains through the sound of the traffic, “Ah, isn’t that cute. There is a grown man holding up a sign for a free car wash. Get a job bro!”

People Group #3:
The Double Takers. These were the ones who would look my direction, look away, and then strain their necks and eyeballs re-reading the sign. “Could it be that there is a group of people doing a carwash that is actually free? No–there has to be some catch. Nobody would waste their time to do something for free without expecting anything in return.”

People Group #4:
I need to get washed up! We actually did have a long line of cars at one point. Surprisingly, people took us up on our offer and let us wash their vehicles (very well I might add!). The washing was usually accompanied by questions such as, “Why are you guys doing this?” “Where are you from?” “You mean I really don’t have to give you anything?”

People Group #5:
The washed (but not for free). We had a lady get into an argument with us because we wouldn’t take her money. Once her car was washed she pretended to drive away and then got out quickly and left a pile of money on the fence next to our washing supplies.

We had a guy who wouldn’t take no for an answer as he offered money. So instead, he pulled out a tin of cookies and made sure that everyone was offered as many as they wanted.

Another guy pulled up to me as asked if he could see the sign up close. I held it up for him to see. After he read it he said, “So I really don’t have to give you anything?” I told me that he didn’t. He said that it sounded like a great deal and then pulled up next to the long line, inserted a Jazz CD into his CD player and cranked music for us. Before long, he had a sponge in his hand and was scrubbing cars right next to us. When I asked him was he was doing he said, “I’ve got to do something!”

Two women saw our sign and went home to pick up their “really dirty car” and brought it back to be washed. After questioning us about why we were doing it and finding out that we were about being a blessing and extending grace to our city they said, “You must be from a church.” I told them that we all happened to go to the same church but that we had committed the week to loving our community. One of the two was from LA and was thinking about moving to our community. When she heard what I said she replied, “When I move back up here, I’m coming to your church. I’ve never heard of a church that just blesses people before.”

Isn’t that sad?

The carwash is an example of God’s grace to you. What people group do you resonate with most?

We arrived at a low-income housing district in a city next to ours to find that the majority of families living there were single parent and had a two-week to six-month lease. Once their lease was up, it was time to move on. During their stay, social workers would spend time assessing the family, determining the needs, and helping to teach and/or train the parent occupationally. This meant that little to no time was spent working with the children, most of whom were under the age of six.

So we started playing baseball….

Before long we had ten or twelve little ones taking turns swinging at pitches. We soon realized that for many of them, this was their first time ever holding a baseball bat. They didn’t know how to hold it, much less how to swing and actually hit a ball.

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know how to hold or swing a baseball bat. But I wasn’t constantly moving from house to house, shelter to shelter, wondering where my next meal or warm bed was going to be. These little ones have already experience more pain, confusion, abandonment, and hurt in their short lives than many of us will in a lifetime.

The highlight of the morning was when that started playing a game called “tackle the crazy loud guy.” One of my friends decided to start it by running around and screaming like a mad man. The natural response of every child in the vicinity was to run as fast as they could and attempt to tackle him. Much to their delight, he would eventually go down and they would pile on him and hug him and tickle him until he got up and they would do it all over again.

It reminds me of a time in Luke 10 when little children were trying to get to Jesus and these big manly 13-15 year-old body gaurds stood in the way. Jesus responded by saying, “Let them come to me–as a matter of fact–you come to me like them!”

And then I picture Jesus playing a game of “tackle the crazy loud guy.”