I love how my wife decorates Renovation Community’s Parsonage front porch for fall. But this post isn’t for showing off her skills; it’s for sharing God’s power to touch broken lives.
Notice the 3 purple mums here. [But ignore that peeling paint and terrible landscaping. They’re on my to-do list, ok! 🤨]
Kelly looks forward to when a nearby store sells large mums in October for a great price. She then sets out a beautiful fall wreath, silk flower arrangement, pumpkins, and floormat to match the season.
But a man stole two of her mums early last Tuesday morning.
Security cameras throughout our church property have “smart” features that alert me at night to people on our property. Those cameras remain silent when recording other movements, like stray animals or a bag blowing in the wind.
But this man dodged one camera and moved too fast for another. His rapid movements and sly avoidance meant the cameras never alerted me while he creeped outside our front door.
[Someone stole a large potted plant off our church building steps this summer. But due to a recording glitch, we only saw the man’s lower body. I compared footage from this summer and last week. Both thieves wore identical shoes. It seems this wasn’t his first porch theft.]
He raced back to a car and drove away into the night.
Two mornings later, I met two new homeless men staying across the street from our garage. After chatting for a while, I asked their help identifying my thief. But before I’d even shown the video footage, they guessed who it was, told me his name, and explained his passion for plants. As soon as they saw the man’s face on my phone, they began laughing and said, “Yeah that’s _____!”
[It helps to have friends on the streets. 😃]
So I walked home with a man’s name, incredibly clear video of him, and unique details about where he lived (but not his exact address).
As you might guess, the Case of the Purloined Potted Plants excited our boys. They repeatedly viewed the video footage and asked questions about the man’s motive, whereabouts, etc.
Eventually, I directed our conversation towards praying for those who sin against us. Since the boys already heard the man’s name, I used it to focus our prayers…
[I’ve changed his name below to “Lee.”]
“We should pray for Mr. Lee. Ask Jesus to change Mr. Lee’s heart to return Mama’s mums. But let’s also pray Mr. Lee experiences Jesus’ forgiveness, becomes our friend, and attends our church services. Let’s pray for opportunities to help him.”
Each night at bedtime I led our boys to pray to ‘Dear Jesus, Let us lead Mr. Lee to you.”
Random questions surfaced all week about Mr. Lee.
Our 5-year-old currently categorizes all Humanity into two groups. You’re either a “Good Guy” or a “Bad Guy.”
This led to frequent discussions about: how we label people; how we, too, have made poor choices to hurt others; and how we all need Jesus’ forgiveness.
I reminded them, “Mr. Lee isn’t bad. He just made a bad choice. But Jesus offers forgiveness for our bad choices when we ask Him. And we can offer forgiveness to Mr. Lee, too.”
While preaching Sunday morning, I mentioned Jesus’ tendency to eat with people whom many religious leaders despised– so-called “tax collectors and sinners.” Sometimes Jesus publicly condemned these critical leaders’ blindness (i.e. failing to see their own sinfulness while hatefully pointing it out in others).
Other times, Jesus didn’t argue with their judgmental terminology but simply used it against them…
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).
In other words, criticizing Jesus for spending time with “sinners” is like criticizing a doctor for spending time with sick people.
Jesus always ministers among the world’s sin-sick, extending healing, forgiveness, and friendship. And we, too, may receive His healing when we acknowledge our sin’s cancerous effects.
Late Sunday afternoon I drove with our 5-year-old to associate pastor Jordan Buchner’s house. A struggling neighbor needed a tool for a car repair. Jordan, handyman that he is, has all the cool tools. So we picked it up, delivered it to our neighbor, and then headed home.
That’s when I saw my Mum Snatcher riding a bike into the shopping center across from the Parsonage.
Like any sane parent with a young child in-tow, I followed the man into a store and confronted him. 🤷🏼♂️
Confusion filled the man’s eyes when I spoke his name. I sensed the question racing through his mind. Had we met before? The mask obstructing my face further slowed his ability to decide if he knew me.
In my rush to exit our car and find Lee, I hadn’t explained anything to our 5-year-old. He held my hand as we quickly entered the store, asking questions while we walked toward the mens clothing racks in our local Goodwill. Then he heard Daddy say a now-familiar name in a kind and friendly tone.
“Hi Lee. I want to give you the chance to return my wife’s mums to our front porch. I’m the pastor of this church across the street and I live in the church’s house on property. I’ve got you on video [I began showing him the footage] stealing our mums right after you dropped of a donation. That was kind of you to donate items here. But now I want you to return the mums. No hard feelings, ok? We just want them back. I work with a lot of homeless people and people struggling to make it financially. If you need help, our church and I would love to help you. You’re welcome to stop by the house or church building ANY time you need help.”
He hung his head and replied, “Ok. I’ll bring them back.”
Then I stuck out my hand to shake his, which was dirty, rough, and calloused…
“Cool. No hard feelings. I’m serious. And I’ll gladly help you with whatever you need. We’ve got a Thanksgiving supper at 4pm coming up on the 21st. Come be my guest. And we meet Sunday mornings at 10:30. You’d be welcome with us. I’d love to get to know you so we can be friends.”
I shook his hand a second time and then left the store.
But I noticed Lee walk out just as I was driving away. So I rolled down the window to let him see my face.
“Hey Lee! Here’s what I look like without a mask. Stop by the church or house any time you want, ok?!”
Lee returned the mums at 11:25 Sunday night. They don’t look as nice as when they left our porch. Several buds now sit shriveled and dead upon their stems.
But often Sin is like that. Even after we repent and attempt restitution, the damage to ourselves, others, and the earth has already occurred.
But every bud on those plants would have eventually withered and died, anyway.
Lee, however, is no mere mortal. God created him to last forever.
I’ve cropped the videos to all but his hands and changed his name to ensure no one could ever identify him from my post.
I don’t want one momentary sin to define him in our community. This precious child of God is more than the sum of his bad choices.
I trust Lee’s repentant act is his beginning (or returning) journey towards Jesus.
I trust our family’s prayers for this man will not go unanswered, that God will lead our new friend into a transforming relationship with Jesus.
Monday morning we shared the good news with our boys…
“Jesus answered our prayers! Mr. Lee returned our flowers! Let’s keep praying God answers the rest of our prayers for him!”
Later that morning while driving with our 5-year-old, he suddenly asked “Why are you a friend to bad guys?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Mr. Lee. That was bad of him to steal Mama’s flowers. Why are you friends with bad guys?”
That led to a beautiful conversation about how Jesus loves all of us, even the worst “sinners.” And we want to love others the way He has loved us.
Another mum appeared this morning. This time, we found it on the same steps where plants disappeared last summer. But I’ve moved it to our Parsonage front porch for our boys to see. Stuffed in the flowers was a note Lee addressed to “Pastor” that read:
“Pastor, Please offer me 4giveness.”
We forgive you, friend.
We forgive you.
May I always be known as a “friend to bad guys.” Because Jesus has been a friend to me.
****
“He’s a… friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ (Matthew 7:34)
“I have called you friends,” (John 15:15)
