Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Seeing Jesus

Dear Friends,

I had the opportunity to visit a border state on June 11, 2019 with a group of health and human services leaders. It's easy to fall into the political debates; it's hard to ignore suffering people.

A bus took us to a very nice neighborhood where a number of the homes have been built by Habitat. In a row of six Habitat houses, three are owned by legal refugees who escaped war and death for a new life in America. The home owners were from Afghanistan and the Congo. They are succeeding! They are working homeowners who keep a spotlessly clean home. All three proudly opened thier homes for us to tour and talk about thier journey. The extreme political rhetoric on both sides doesn't match reality.

Our next stop was an aging auto repair shop where we met the proprietor and another entrepreneur, Iraq and Cuban refugees respectively. Both escaped to come pursue the American dream. The car repairman now employs eight people and has a successful business. The other has started a commercial cleaning service that is growing rapidly. He's keeping his day job till he's got enough business and help to transition to full time. Both took out and quickly repaid a micro loan from a sister Lutheran organization to our Lutheran Services Carolinas. The extreme political rhetoric on both sides doesn't match reality.

Our last stop was to a church where every Monday one or two ICE buses pull up and dump approximately 100 asylum seekers. The Lutheran organization arranges housing, communications, clothing, etc. for these people who are on their way to sponsoring family members across the country. We had the privilege of plating and serving lunch and visiting with 47 of these asylum seekers. They had been in the United States for less than 24 hours. Thanks to the Lutherans, they had had a good night's sleep, a shower, etc. after a horrible ordeal. The extreme political rhetoric on both sides doesn't match reality.

The Bible tells us that when we clothed and fed those in need, we have done the same to Jesus. Wow, I saw Jesus this week.

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