Rev's Reveille

I just spent some time with Cisco, our church’s commissioned pastor for the Warehouse. The Warehouse is a ministry our church supports and maintains to provide spiritual care to those who live in the margins of our society here in Tulare County. Cisco told me a story today about one of those people who lives in the margins and it is a story I think that should be shared.

Sonia was an addict who lived on and off the streets. Around 18 months ago she wandered into the warming center the Warehouse helps host on cold winter nights for those who are homeless. Intrigued, Sonia began stopping by the Warehouse during the day, and soon she was regularly attending bible studies and Sunday morning worship. Around a year ago she gave her life to Christ.

Becoming a Christian didn’t solve all of Sonia’s problems or her struggles. But Cisco tells me it still changed her life. She never missed Sunday worship and showed up at the Warehouse even when it was closed. This last Spring Sonia became very sick. She was admitted to the hospital with congestive heart failure despite only being 30 years old. For the next few weeks she was in and out of the hospital, experiencing a couple heart attacks. Finally, early on a Saturday morning in April she called Cisco and asked him to come to the hospital and pray with her. While he was there she asked if Cisco would baptize her as she had not yet been baptized. Cisco told her he’d make the arrangements for when she got out of the hospital. But Sonia grabbed his arm and said, “No. I think you need to baptize me now.”  So Cisco got a cup of water from the sink and right there in the hospital room, with tears streaming down her face, Sonia was baptized. She died only a few hours later.

I think Sonia’s story is an important one for us to consider. Sometimes it is easy to wonder what God is up to. The news makes it look like everything is going to hell in a hand basket. The church in North America is shrinking at an alarming rate. Yet stories like Sonia’s remind us that God has always done His best work in the margins. The Hebrews enslaved in Egypt were in the margins. The Promised Land was in the margins. Jesus was born in the margins. The disciples were from the margins of Jewish society. The church exploded across the Roman Empire not amongst the powerful but the demographics who existed in the margins of Roman culture. Today the church continues to grow the fastest in places like Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America … and the Warehouse. Praise God for the work He does in the margins.