Jesusluvsall's Blog

My life and ministry for the past 20 years has been all about helping refugees and immigrants to feel that my home city is a safe place to land in hopes that they can see Jesus as a safe place to land.

I have listened as they shared their stories of terrible loss and tragedy. The suffering they have been through is unfathomable for those of us who live in western countries.

My desire has been to be the hand of a stranger that reaches out to show them a safe place to land.

I never found a song that expressed how my refugee friends feel and my desire to reach out to them until recently I listened to a secular song by Sara Bareilles and John Legend, A Safe Place to Land. The song captures so many things for me.

There are so many suffering people around us in our workplaces, in our schools, in our neighborhoods, if we would only reach out and be the hand of a hopeful stranger as the song says. Maybe it is the single mom, the person who struggles with depression.anxiety, the person who doesn’t know their father, the person living in poverty feeling trapped or the victim of abuse.. There are so many suffering people around us.

Do we want to be the hand of a hopeful stranger, a light in the dark, to show them a safe place to land until the sun comes up in their lives as the song says?

As I grow older and my body is racked with the effects of chronic illness, I pray for the strength to keep reaching out the hand of a hopeful stranger,

Thank you for reading. God Bless.