Sent to Rwanda

44  All the believers were together and had everything in common.  45  They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.  46  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47  praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:44-47 This is a very familiar passage of Scripture. I could probably quote parts or at least paraphrase. In my mind, I had a picture of people who sold everything and lived on some kind of compound. None of them worked, but they grew their own food and just shared everything. Last week at Bible study we were discussing Acts 2. When we got to the end and this verse was read, the other women in the room laughed and said, “This is us.” My mind questioned, “But we have possessions. I have the couches we are sitting on. ...

My friend died last week. Really, he was more than a friend; he was my big brother. When I first found out, it was by email and I read it and said it out loud a couple of times, but a few hours later when it sunk in, I just hurt all over. I started thinking about my friend and was trying to think how we first became friends. We worked together and I thought he was pretty interesting and noticed he treated people differently. With respect. You see, we worked with people who were in a low place in their life. Some were homeless, ex-offenders, unemployed, underemployed, poor, hurting, lonely, and so on. But when they sat across the table from Roland, they were the most important person in his life. That's how he treated everyone, because honestly, we have all been hurting, lonely and poor. He didn't see the difference. He was a big brother to me (and so many). We did our favorite things together. If I could pick an ideal outing or activity, we enjoyed those same things. Softba...