As I approached the soccer field one of the kids ignored me and later shouted he hated me. I am not sure what made him so mad. Despite my efforts to seek understanding, he resisted. He simply fumed and yelled. He continued to scream a string of unkind things in front of a growing captivated audience. I held back a few tears as I headed towards my beat up silver Honda to give him space, honestly I needed the space too.
The thing is, this was not a random kid. This was a kid who only several weeks prior we prayed for in my apartment as he confessed to having family problems. He later asked if he could live with me and sleep on my couch as he was curled up in my favorite brown blanket. Now he officially hated me.
Relationships are messy and this was a reminder that love is choosing to love someone in the middle of an unraveled tornado of emotion. We are called to be in each others messy lives. He was in mine and I was in his. So, in a twisted way this incident confirmed that me and this kid had arrived. Yes, we are officially doing life together in all it's glory.
It reminded me of a statement a friend made about Jesus. God didn't shield his son from the messiness of this world, but sent him in the middle of it. Jesus befriended ragamuffins, sinners and fisherman with unrefined edges. He spent time with them, ate with them, did life around them. He wasn't afraid of mess. Of our unraveled mess.
(Few days later.......)
Last night, I talked with his mom as I felt a gnawing feeling with things unresolved. So, in a last ditch effort to help me, she forced him to talk with me. He didn't want to. He still hated me. Finally he relented. So we talked it out. We both apologized to each other. We hugged it out. His friend said he was crying it out as he turned away. Yep, living in my community is messy. A beautiful precious mess.
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