⁸ We were glad to share not only God’s good news with you but also our very lives because we cared for you so much. (1 Thess. 2:8, CEB)

Before we moved to Minneapolis we lived for a few years in Colorado. I was working outside the church at the time. The church we attended was fairly large and after a time we were able to host a small group. That group was one of the most caring groups of people I have ever been a part of in life and ministry. They renewed my foundational hope and belief in the Body of Christ. They deepened my love for the Church.

It was the kind of group that met and I could throw out a passage of Scripture and we would be off to the races for the rest of the evening. No prodding. No leading questions. We would read the passage (we went through the Gospel of Mark at the time) and then we would dive into the text. Questions were flying. Observations were being made. We would wrestle with the issues of the text. We would wrestle with what was being said and the implications for our lives.

We truly loved each other. We had two single moms in the group and when they needed to move from an apartment to a house, or from one apartment to another, we were all in. We simply said, “Next week is moving week for Lisa. Everyone show up over there.” And we did. All of us. No excuses.

The church we were all a part of was fairly large and it had a Christian school. The director was a friend of mine from college and he was moving from an apartment to a home one weekend. The whole church knew about it for weeks. I let him know I would be there to help. The day of the move, after weeks of announcing it to the entire church, I showed up… along with two teenage girls. We weren’t going to get much moving done.

I told my friend, “I think we can do better than this.”

I made two phone calls to some guys in our home group and in under an hour we had six people show up and start hauling. My friend was blown away.

“It’s what we do for each other.”

The time came where we sensed the Lord was moving us back into ministry. What was becoming painfully clear at that time was some things we were praying about for ministry in Colorado just were not going to happen. Doors were closing in jobs and the Lord was making it obvious that something was going to change.

I was trying to scrape together jobs as I was searching for a church. Money was tight.

One night in our home group the group let us know they had paid our rent for the month ahead.

“We know God is leading you away. It’s not our favorite idea in the world, but we sense it’s God. We don’t want you to make a move out of desperation. We know you need money for rent, so we want to give you a little more time so you make the right move.”

And, of course, the day we moved, every one of them showed up to pack our truck.

“It’s what we do for each other.”

Their incredible love and generosity allowed us to hear more clearly from God and has put us in our current place of ministry. That was 15 years ago and I will never forget their incredible love and care.

The Church is about love for one another. It is about care. It is about seeing God’s best happen in each other’s lives.

I get to see that every week in the church we pastor now, and I carry with me the wonderful thought that a group of incredibly loving people in Colorado helped launch us back into ministry. We knew we were not going to be together again, but our deep love for each other, and our desire to see God’s best in each others lives carried us to do extraordinary things.

Reading this Week

For our church, we are reading Acts and 1-2 Thessalonians this week. As you read, reflect on the love and care the Body of Christ has for each other. Reflect on what it means to look out for God’s best in the lives of others.