Restoration 101

As I’ve mentioned before in a blog, I am a Baptist girl. Born and raised in the church. Started attending in utero. Cut my teeth on the pew. I love my heritage and cherish my church. I’m not sure what Jesus thinks about the whole denominational thing, but I’m pretty sure it’s more our idea than it is His. Still, I am a Baptist girl at heart.

But there is one thing that has always puzzled me about Baptists and the Christian community as a whole…

Why is it that we really don’t know what to do with people within our community who are hurting?

In my mind, we usually manage such people in one of two ways. One, we treat them like they have a rare form of TB and need to be quarantined, or two, we pretend that we have amnesia and don’t remember that they have ever existed. It’s as if we don’t want to catch what they have and we think that by pretending we don’t know them, we won’t.

In reality, because we just don’t know what to do with hurting people, often we do nothing, at all. I can only imagine how this must break the very heart of Jesus, who was all about helping, healing, and restoring. I sometimes think that we have a policy in place for everything, but we have no real plan on how to rescue those among us who are drowning and need someone to throw them a life saving device.

But every once in a while, someone steps up with courage and tosses the buoy.

Monty did this for us. We met when we lived in Nashville in the early 2000’s. Monty was always a little unconventional in his ways, which was one of the things both my husband and I loved about him. He didn’t try to be P.C. He wasn’t in it for show. He was (and is:)) a gifted communicator and motivator with a huge heart for people. We used to rib him because of his Assemblies affiliation, and he used to rib us about our Baptist faith. He would tell us that he was probably more Baptist than the Assemblies thought, and we, in turn, admitted that we were probably more Assemblies than our Baptist friends imagined us to be. Either way, we enjoyed the truest form of fellowship amongst Christians and still do, to this day.

Monty has always had a way of getting in my husband’s face. I say this with great affection, as Monty is an incredible mentor and accountability measure for Scott. He is always kind and fair in his approach, but he is also always honest and firm.

So, when my husband lost his job and was out of work for right at 12 months, I knew just who to call. I told Monty about the state my husband was in and that I might need him to get his buoy out and ready in case he might need to throw it to Scott. Scott was really hurting, and he was sinking further and further into feelings of resentment and fear over his long-standing unemployment. Thus far, I had not been successful in my attempts to encourage him in his faith. When I talked, it didn’t even seem as if he heard anything I was saying.

As was in typical Monty fashion, he assured me that he would help. He promised to call back with a plan, and when the phone rang a few hours later, he had one in place. He would be to North Carolina by the weekend.

It didn’t matter that he hadn’t been home in 32 days after speaking in numerous places across the country back-to-back. It made no difference to him that a plane ticket to North Carolina would cost him twice the amount it normally would on such short notice. Monty just heard the need and responded. And he was on my front porch within 3 days.

While I won’t go into all the details of the weekend (this blog would be much too long!), I will tell you that Monty staged a full-on intervention with my husband and me. He had it all planned out and prayed over. He did it with grace. He did it with care. He did it out of love and compassion. And he did it confrontationally, without holding back or fearing rejection. He laid out Scripture. He laid hands on us. He got in our face. And sitting right in the middle of my living room in a rented house with mis-matched furniture, he preached the best sermon I have ever heard in my lifetime.

That night, there was no talk of denomination. There was just a spirit of community between believers and the courage and compassion of one man to see past himself to the needs and hurts of others. Monty threw us a buoy that weekend, and I am convinced that his actions, coupled with the Spirit of God, kept my husband from sinking.

Restoration 101.

I can only imagine how happy Jesus was with what took place that weekend. He is, after all, in the business of restoration. He has always been. He has never minded getting his hands dirty or been afraid to be around the sinful or sorry. And He has never known a person He needed to ignore. In fact, when He walked the earth, He could often be seen with the shady, the soiled and the questionable. And He always, always made a difference in their lives.

He was and is the classic example of a champion buoy-thrower.

So, here’s a shout out to Monty, who looked past himself and responded to a need. Here’s to believers everywhere who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty if that’s what a spiritual intervention requires. And here’s to our great God, who restores all of us by His grace, even when we are shady, soiled, and questionable.

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ…will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” I Peter 5:10

Lisa