Yesterday was blazing hot.  The kind of hot which could melt your sneakers to the pavement if you stayed in one place too long.  KYW said it was 99 in Philadelphia with a heat index of 110, And I’ll tell you what, Lancaster County wasn’t far behind.  I went out as needed, but pretty much decided to make it an office and administrative day… in the air conditioning. I can’t imagine how our tradesmen fared yesterday.  I know I wouldn’t want to be on a tractor, building a house, fixing an HVAC unit or God-forbid, on a roof.

It was a little after 3 and I had set up in the church lobby to work on my sermon. I know it’s a little weird, but sometimes I need a change of place when I study. I find that a new setting stirs my creativity and I look at the text with fresh eyes.  As I worked there, I got a call from Pam, which I declined.  Then she called back again… and a third time.  This must be important. I took the call.

Pam was actually in the church parking lot!  She was driving by on 625 and saw a Lexus SUV blocking our entrance with its back end sticking way out into the road.  She said it looked like the guy needed a push.

Earlier this week, I had been praying for an opportunity to share Jesus with someone.  As a pastor, I work mainly with Christians and, ironically, don’t often get the opportunity to connect with and share the gospel with people outside the church.

“OK, thank you Jesus, for bringing an opportunity right to my front door!”, I thought.   

I ran out to the parking lot and greeted Pam, who said to me, “He doesn’t speak much English.”

“Bummer. Well, this could be challenging. But I’m pretty good at cross-cultural communication. This could still work.”, I said to myself.

As we approached the SUV there was a middle-aged Vietnamese man inside trying to simultaneously start the car and make calls on his cell phone. But the battery in his car was completely dead. Through hand gestures and broken phrases, we kind of got the sense that he worked somewhere south of the church, maybe at Conestoga Wood and was driving home after his shift.

“Good, he probably lives local.  This could be a great ministry opportunity!”

Knowing how dangerous that intersection is, we needed to get his car off the road. By this time, another good Samaritan had stopped. Chief McCarthy from East Earl Township police arrived right as we pushed the vehicle into the church parking lot.

Communication between us was almost impossible and afternoon thunderstorms were quickly gathering. Since his English was so limited, Officer McCarthy signaled for his driver’s license.  The man was visibly nervous as he fumbled to produce his wallet. But everything was in order. It showed a Wyomissing address.

“Wyomissing! This guy lives near the Berkshire Mall way over on the west side of Reading. That’s like 20 miles from here.”

In about 5 minutes we were all going to be soaked.  We stood a little helpless as the man tried to call a friend for help, again and again unsuccessfully. “I’ll take him home.” I offered.  “Thanks Pastor”, Chief McCarthy replied.

Sigh…There goes the rest of my afternoon.  Well, this is what Jesus would do….”

After another series of gestures and miming, the guy gathered his things and climbed into my car, and I drove him home.  It was a silent trip with only 4 understandable words passing between us.  “Thank you” and “You’re welcome.”

On the way home, the Holy Spirit started to work on me.

Why did you view that man as a project rather than a person?

What? I protested.

You went in with an agenda and viewed him as a project to share the gospel with or a potential new church member.  You didn’t really see him as a person created in my image simply needing help.

But I only wanted to share Jesus with him. I responded weakly.

You did. You just didn’t use words and that’s exactly what I had planned. The Spirit replied. Someone else will share the gospel with him.

And so, I had a little repenting to do on my long trip home, not in my actions but in my attitude.

Every human being is an image-bearer of God and has inherent value.  People are worthy of help simply because they are created by God and part of the human family.  As a Christian, of course,  I want to share the joy, hope and freedom that knowing Jesus brings.  We have the gospel, the good news. And anyone with good news wants to share it with others!  But there’s a subtle danger that we approach people with an agenda and see them as projects, not people.  And no one wants to be viewed as a project.

It’s no secret that Christians in America have a pretty bad name right now and that churches as a whole are pretty ineffective.  And that’s well-deserved, I think. Driven by an agenda, we’ve stopped seeing people as precious image-bearers of the Father, particularly if they don’t line up with our politics and worldview.  But what if we just loved everyone who came across our path because they are worthy of love? Jesus seemed to be on board with that:

A new command I give you: Love one another.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

Our world is fractured and our nation is divided.  As individuals we may not be able to solve that, but we can meet the deepest need of the human heart- to be seen and loved. And maybe, just maybe, if we treat everyone around us with dignity and respect, there will be an opportunity to share deeper things, like our faith.