Walking in Someone Else’s Shoes
By Cara Taylor
Director of Outreach
“She’s running away!” It’s a favorite line of my mom’s amused home video voice-over. She was narrating as my little toddler legs sprinted across the lawn at a public park. Now, as the parents of a high school senior, we are feeling a range of emotions about his journey beyond our home. But leaving home is not always an exhilarating step of independence. What if the home you love is life-threatening? What if leaving it risks losing everything?
This is the reality for 122 million refugees worldwide, which really is beyond my comprehension. Where to begin? What has it to do with my life? Jesus, always, is our guide. Just as God came to walk among us, we can start to love like him by walking in someone else’s shoes.
That’s why we are hosting From Home to Home, an immersive exhibit to understand the refugee experience. The Toone Gathering Place will be transformed and open to the community March 27-April 1. I hope you book a spot—it’s free. Staff from our outreach partner World Relief will guide the experience.
In your life, how does the Bible shape your own experience of suffering and displacement? Years ago, our family had just arrived in a new city and were still living in a hotel, when our two-year old went into respiratory distress. She spent a week on a ventilator and awoke in a catatonic state for several days more. We were astonished to learn that, at churches across the city, strangers were praying for our child. Even atheist friends said they were praying! People brought us food and helped us get a more permanent place to live.
Because the Bible is the story of how our faithful God pursues us against every odd, I know that my own life is part of this bigger story. Whether we are running from danger or helping rescue someone else, scripture offers more than comforting words. Throughout human history and even now, God is gathering us to himself! In fact, this is how Yahweh (the Rescuer) introduced himself to his people (the runaways) in the Sinai desert:
“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)
I wonder if you ever feel out of place. Like a sojourner running for your life…from home to home?
At this time of year before Easter, as we walk Jesus’ steps toward his own crucifixion, we recognize that our faith flourishes in suffering in ways that the world does not understand (John 16:33). Because in these times we trust God more (Romans 8:18). Suffering can even be a sign of our faithfulness (2 Timothy 3:12). In it, we are closer to our suffering Savior, Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:8-11). And scripture calls us to take on the suffering of others in equally baffling ways (Luke 10:30-37). If you missed the Gather25 global prayer event a few weeks ago, please watch the segment on praying for the persecuted church. It will reorient our comfort-seeking lives.
I do not believe that God caused our baby’s sickness or animates worldly powers to oppress people, but he never wastes our suffering. He is always tenderly gathering us home to himself. We are not without hope! Because Jesus walked in our shoes all the way to death…and overcame it, God has promised that all peoples who call on him will gather in worship before him (Revelation 7:9)!
The question is whether we will be part of this mission to gather the nations, to welcome the sojourner, and to love our neighbor.
The timing of our refugee immersion exhibit is remarkable since we started planning this last summer. Governments change, but God doesn’t. It’s been several thousand years since the Bible recorded how God protected Hagar in the desert (Gen 21:17-19) and gave enslaved people a home to be a place of welcome for other sojourners. So, we want our church to be a safe, welcoming place to walk in those footsteps today and wonder how we can love like him.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40).
Cara