Can You Spare A Few Minutes?

16We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16 (New Living Translation)

Maybe it's just me, but when I read passages like this a realization comes to me of just how far short of Christ's pattern of behavior most of us live. The apostle John is saying that since we know that Christ gave His life for us, we should give ours freely to our fellow Christ-followers.

But...

What's your reaction when someone asks you if you can spare a few minutes?

Or for those who worship at New Hope, what do you think when you see Allan's number show up on your phone's caller ID? :)

You see dear readers, our friend Allan is a young man of 23 who is developmentally challenged. He loves New Hope, and New Hope loves him. However communicating with Allan, even about things he loves, like NASCAR, the Braves, or the Niceville Eagles, is difficult. Not only does Allan suffer from hearing loss, but he's not able to process the information well at times.

So conversations with Allan tend to go according to a pattern that He sets, and within that conversation, you may repeat the same pattern several times. He loves to talk, and can tell when you drift off or are distracted. So when you talk to Allan, you have to drop everything else and listen and respond.

We're used to that face to face interaction here, but since Allan took home a church directory - well, things haven't really been the same. He'll call the church, he'll call your home, he'll call your cell phone - sometimes talking for a half hour.

We love Allan. He knows that. Still, he needs to talk to people he loves and hear their voices. But those on the other end of the line have lives too. At times, it can be very inconvenient when he calls.

So when the caller ID reads his number, what do you do?

I was talking with Bunny about this just the other day, and she said "You know, you just have to decide to give Allan that time."

Love is a decision, isn't it?

Can you spare a few minutes?

Grace!

David Wilson
www.newhopevalp.org