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Has it really been almost 2 months since I last posted?

I'm still alive. Just taking a bit of a blogging break. It's been too hot to put together any sort of intelligible post. But I have been thinking a lot about things. Like thousands of children waiting for families (especially this little girl), the horrible famine in Africa, and how do I live out my life for the sake of the lost and the poor right where I am? What does that really look like in my everyday life here in Turkey?

We are commanded to love and care for the poor. But to love and care for the poor we have to know the poor. I don't think it's enough to keep them at a safe distance while writing out a check to a good humanitarian organization and patting ourselves on the back that we've done our part. No, I'm convinced it's all about relationship. We have to go to them. And that is where it gets messy. Because the poor are often sick, the poor are often looked down on by others in their neighborhood, the poor often have bad manners and habits.

Our best friends are considered poor by most people in Turkey. And being friends with them has been one of the best and one of the hardest things at the same time. I'm sorry to say that before I moved to Turkey all of my friends were pretty much just like me when it came to standard of living, what they believed, how they lived their lives, etc. Living in Turkey and befriending people so different than myself has taught me so much about myself. And I'm ashamed to admit that a lot of what I've learned has not been so good. I'm selfish and I care about my comfort way too much.

Of course I don't think it's the wisest thing to share a cup with someone who is sick, but I share the cup anyway because that is the way life is lived here with our friends. In community. Everything is shared. We eat from the same bowls, drink from the same cups. Sure, I could explain to them how germs are spread (we have, in fact) but that is not going to change the way they live their daily lives. And so we pray and we take another bite (even when we know we are eating food that has been sitting out on the counter, uncovered all night) because I believe that is what Jesus would do. We have to love them, all of them. Not just parts of them and try to change the rest we don't like. You can't love people in pieces; you take the bad with the good.

I don't feel like we have it all figured out yet, we are nowhere close! We have so much to learn when it comes to caring for the lost and the poor. And our friends really aren't poor at all when you think about so many in the horn of Africa that are dying right now because they don't have food or water. We have so far to go. And so much to learn. And I don't want to forget. I want my heart to continue breaking for the things that God's heart is breaking for. I want to truly care about people and love people even when it's uncomfortable, especially when it's uncomfortable. I just want to be like my Jesus.