My drug dealers..

How many professing Christians actually associate with those who are...

Like the corner people... Like the porch people... Like the crazy people... Like the street people... Like "them". Not like "us". Criminals. The "darker" element. Prostitutes. Junkies. Street kds...

There 's this huge movement in our neighborhood to overcome the "deviant elements", like drug dealers, street people, corner people, the store that used to sell liquor on the corner, and folks like that. The movement is very powerful and has been building over the last decade. It's peopled with church-folk, upwardly mobile homosexual people, business owners, and like that...

"they" have grammas, mommas, and some have daddies out there somewhere... They are the lowly, sheep without shepherd... "We" are the ones with commands about love. "we" are the ones with teachings from our Shepherd that should polarize us to be attracted to these broken people...

I'm interested in building on the movement of Jesus, that gathered the "deviants" together around the good news. Grace. Power. Jesus didn't scatter them for the "improvement" of the neighborhood. He gathered them for the establishment of his Kingdom... Not in our streets, in our hearts!

Jesus is not a champion of clean streets. He's the champion for our hearts! The Champion of "Them".

We are in wonder that Jesus is calling us to Himself, among "them".