This Lenten year... I planned to attend Ash Wednesday service at Westminster Church in Buffalo.
Then Jess got a call yesterday morning from one of our store workers (and friend/little brother/this young man that both of us have come to love so much), Markee, asking if there was any way that we (I) could give him a ride to the East Side to get his birth certificate from his Aunt (his mom isn't present and his dad, well...). He needs his birth certificate so he can finish getting his SS card so that he can get some photo ID so he can get his permit... you get the picture. It's so despairingly sad sometimes, to realize just how much our "system" sets up failure for those who needs its help the most. Markee is one of the fortunate ones... at least he knew his aunt had his birth certificate. Quite a few others have absolutely no idea, or their mom/dad took everything when they left, or it burned in a fire, or it was stolen when their apt was robbed.
But I digress.
Admittedly, I wasn't too excited about driving to the East Side (also referred to as the "[something] war zone") as dark was encroaching on us and the streets were quickly being overgrown with layer upon layer of frozen ice chunkies falling from a seemingly revengeful sky. Scary under my perceived "normal" country conditions let alone driving in the midst of some crazy Buffalo traffic. Not thrilled, but who else did Markee have to take him...? Seriously, nobody. Jess. Me. That's it. And he doesn't have enough money for bus fare. Sobering thought....
So we get to his aunt's house, and he hops out and says he'll be right back... Markee is better at African time than Africans I think. grins (That's not meant offensively by any means!) So close to 40 min later, Jess and I decided that we'll give him "ONE MORE MINUTE". So, out we went in search for Markee, and I in search of their bathroom, and though we found both we also found something that we weren't at all expecting...
An aunt committed to Christ and to her confused at life, errant, lost in his heart Nephew. By the way that both she and Markee's older cousin Douglas peeled into him, it was obvious that they cared deeply for him, and most especially his aunt. "Markee! Y'need to stop messin' aROUND! Git oughta dat mess you in and staat PRAYIN'!! What you doin'?! I done took you ta chaach growin' up! You KNOW how ta make yaself right wi da LORD! You betta start readin' yoa Bible - you got a Bible??! You betta staat prayin' cuz da only one dat can help you outta dat mess you in is JEsus! I'm serious Markee! Stop messin' wit dem druugs and smokin' and all dat! An' stop bein' lazy an' get yoself outta bed in da mornin' and get ta chaach! An' if ya can't read dat Bible you got, den sleep on it! Put it right unda yo PILLOW an' maybe somepin be happenin' when you's aSLEEP! Da only reason you's alive ri'now is cuz da Lord's hand be upon you! But da Lord ain'gonna keep helpin' you if you keep ignorin' him - da mo' you ASK da mo' you RECEIVE!! An' Jesus be da only one dat can help you straighten things out! You listenin' ta me?! I'm serious Markee!"
Wow. I was totally floored. Everything his aunt and cousin said to him had exclamation marks, and for a few brief (20-30 or so) minutes, Jess and I were in a completely different world than the ones we'd grown up in or had ever known. I got my Ash Wednesday service, but from a minister I hadn't foreseen, in a church I didn't know existed, and with sinners who know about God's grace and provision through Jesus Christ more deeply and profoundly than I ever have, and in a different way than I ever will.
The beginning of this Lenten year left me completely exhausted, shattered, physically and emotionally... and maybe spiritually too. The very first day it pried my old eyes away from me (not exactly an easy accomplishment), and started forming new ones in their stead. They're still being formed. Ash Wednesday told me, 'Here. Le'me show you what sacrifice be meanin' HERE. Let me show you what Lent be here. East Side AND West Side. You know what Lent is in a white chaach wi' white friends wi' a white pastor, and dem things be good, bu' you don' know what Lent be fo' us. An' den you be one of us too. Well... maybe no' quite, but at least you understan' different.'
And so I am....
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