strangers.

It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

When you read about Anne Frank’s life, you kind of have to look at your own a little differently.

(You know our Otto is named after Anne Frank’s father.  A survivor.  A man who endured.)

The last two months have brought me to my knees and spun our family into a completely different direction.

The children and I have been learning precisely and beautifully and painfully what it means to be cared for and to rest under the hand of an Almighty God who meets us where we are.

People are a mystery though, are we not?

For all the sinful, selfish, self-righteous deeds we commit, we also are capable of astounding generosity and self-sacrifice.

Last week we received a letter in the mail.

From a friend who lives in another city in another state.

She’s a recent transplant to that city herself so she resides primarily amongst strangers-turning-into-friends.

And as she shared our family’s story with some of these friend/strangers, something I cannot really understand happened.

They felt empathy.  Compassion.  They prayed for us.  More strangers praying for strangers.

And then they shared what they had with us.

Strangers sharing with strangers.

It’s revolutionary really, isn’t it?

I mean, if my close friend was in need, I’d lend a hand.  Without question.

But if my friend’s friend was in need, I might be a little slower to act.

And if a stranger in another state was in need, I’d listen and feel sympathetic but I might move on with my own life and forget about that stranger’s needs.

But this stranger reached out to us.  A family states away that he would most likely never meet in this life time.

And my friend wrote, in her beautiful penmanship, “I want you to be reminded once again that God has a keen sense of keeping his children well attended to.  Be encouraged that the church spans much further and strangers in Nashville are on their knees interceding for you and the kids.”

That’s some kind of lovely – isn’t it?