From The Safety Of My Back Porch

Josh and I spend a lot of time on our back porch.

We love the fresh air.
The sounds.
The solitude.

It's one of our favorite places to go.

We'll spend evenings talking through life.
We'll spend mornings sipping coffee and spending time with the God who created it all.

But the view from our back porch tells a story.
Our home holds safety.
Our home holds life.
But as soon as we walk out those doors we enter into the world God has placed us in.

From the safety of our back porch we have seen and heard the cries of the lost that are all around us.

Just this morning we saw two cars pull off the road behind our house.
The guy got out of his truck.
Stomping up to the car in front of him.
Yelling.
Punching.
Wait, that is a woman in that other car!
Josh jumped up and started making his way toward them.
She starts honking the car horn while he beats on her.
Screaming.
More yelling.
More hitting.
Then she got away.
He drove off the other way in rage.

We've heard domestic disputes.
We've heard gun shots.
We've seen the hurt.

We have no doubt in our minds that we are exactly where God wants us to be.

In fact, Josh has been referred to as "the Pastor of Rolesville" more than once.  A title I am so proud of him for bearing.  We've had people come to us needing a ride, or help getting their car out of ditches in the middle of the night, or even shelter with nowhere else to go.

We can take these things as interruptions and inconveniences OR we can embrace where God has planted us and give the love of Christ to the hurting world that literally comes knocking on our door.

You don't have to sell all you have and move across the globe to be missionaries to the lost (unless you are called to do so, of course), but you do have to be willing to hold loosely what you have been given in order to put yourself out there.  The lost are right here in our backyard.