HERE ON PURPOSE

At Christmastime, we remember (if we dare) that God came near. He left the perfection of heaven. And He showed up in the middle of the stench of animals and dirty politics and shepherds. And He did it on purpose. He knew what He was leaving. And He knew what He was getting into. And He came anyway. I am so very grateful. Even now as I type this, my chest tingles with the profoundness of Jesus' intentionality to enter into my mess.

Today I went on CrimeMapping.com. I have recently signed up to be part of neighborhood groups and one of them directed me today to have a look at the crimes committed in my neighborhood in the last week. Fascinating. Have a look:

 

Each little icon is a different kind of crime from forced entry to vehicle theft, even fraud, larceny, battery, and disturbing the peace are pictured. Some locations have multiple crimes listed. All in all, there are 17 crimes that have been reported within a mile of our house in the last week. Out of curiosity, I mapped the crimes around our previous house in Loganville, and here is what came up:

And, I am reminded of something I just read recently:

Everything in our society teaches us to move away from suffering, to move out of neighborhoods where there is high crime, to move away from people who don’t look like us.  But the the gospel calls us to something altogether different.  We are to laugh at fear, to lean into suffering, to open ourselves to the stranger.  Advent is the season when we remember how Jesus put on flesh and moved into the neighborhood.  God getting born in a barn reminds us that God shows up in the most forsaken corners of the earth.

Now, I am not comparing Loganville, Georgia to heaven. By no means. (We had multiple break-ins in our neighborhood there too! Sin is everywhere.) And, I am not saying that Clarkston is a forsaken corner of the earth. (I love it here! There is so much beauty and joy in this place.) But, I am saying this. I left Loganville on purpose. And I moved here on purpose. I am following the God made flesh that leaves the comfortable to move into the pain. I am doing my best to imitate the God who became something He wasn't so that others could become what they were not. I am not afraid. I am open. I am here on purpose.