I recently finished reading the book Divine Nobodies by Jim Palmer and it constantly rocked my world! At the end of the book Jim Palmer said that maybe he could be a divine nobody to someone and he definitely is to me. The book starts off with a little bit of a depressing story and then moves on to describe who changed his life and how it changed. It was amazing to read through and be able to peek into his life and it was crazy how much it challenged me it was like every chapter had a new revealing for me. There was a chapter about a waitress from Waffle House who had tried going to Church but found that people constantly judged her and she didn’t really feel welcomed at any Church especially when she had to go in her uniform because she had to work afterwards. When Jim Palmer found this out she also described how her Church was Waffle House. This is something that I have been thinking for a long time now and it’s that Church isn’t about a building with four walls, a steeple, and a couple of stained glass windows. Church is the body, Church is leaving a tip for a waiter/ waitress and not a track that looks like a five dollar bill. Now that I think about it the entire book was about what Church should be. Church is a car repair man who will fix a panicked mothers car for free so she could get her kids to school on time, Church is a telling a frustrated almost crying cashier at Kohl’s that it is going to be ok, Church is a swim teacher who cares about kids and is a democrat, Church is a rapper who stands for something more than the club scene, and Church is a beer drinking cigar smoking tire salesman who goes out of his way to make sure a drifter has a place to sleep shower and a way to get to the bus stop and have a ticket to go where he needs to go. Christianity is so more than theological terms, and rules like we can’t dance. Christianity is loving everyone even the unlovable and even though this sounds so cliché truly asking WWJD in every situation you are in. Hmmm this homeless guy is asking for $5 but he will probably go spend it on crack so I am going to keep it in my wallet. What is $5 to you?! Hand it over what he does with it is between him/her and God. In Jim Palmer’s book he brings up the verse Hebrews 13:2 which says “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” Who wants to get to Heaven and hear Jesus say: “Why didn’t you feed me when I was Hungry? Why didn’t you clothe me when I was naked in the streets?” That breaks my heart. I don’t want to hear that but I know I have probably walked by Jesus, and some angels a few times. I guess God convicted me through Divine Nobodies to be more than a Christian sitting in “Church” and to go out and be the Church, and to pay attention to and entertain strangers because you just never know whether that person is an angel or even Jesus. I mean in the Bible Jesus says “whatever you do to the least of these you do unto me” so whether the homeless person on the corner is legit or not shouldn’t be our concern, that person is a child of the same God I claim as mine and I am going to treat that person as such. I would strongly recommend Divine Nobodies who is willing to have their lives messed up.
