westside taxi

kevin has taken a ride 5 times in the last 7 days.
too drunk to walk, passing out, fighting, yelling, slurring, stumbling.
kevin, joe, robi, kenny, billy bob, joe black, steve, and another steve.
beautiful thing in all of it is that they travel in groups,
a sense of community,
a rather twisted community,
but togetherness nonetheless.
[dave prefers isolation; i think this is worse, especially since i've been experiencing firsthand the power of living in community]
they just live in a constant state of winter
and hopelessness
and substance abuse.
i hate it
but God has asked us, me, to be a part of the redeeming work He is doing.
so we do,
as best we can.
and today j welcomed eight cold friends for coffee
and the firemen, police officers, and paramedics think she's crazy
but they don't know these people like she does.
they don't love these people like she does.

and indeed,

18...the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

1 corinthians 1

can't depend on what we think or what we feel like or what we're comfortable with... but what He asks of us because He sees the story in its entirety.

[God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe]
and this is what we "waste our time" praying for-

thanks j.