sam. and some people like him.

When I met Sam, I was missing a whole nights sleep, feeling a little motion sick from a windy car ride on the wrong side of the road and generally just trying to keep myself from alternately not throwing up in his church or falling asleep while he talked. Poor Sam.

To add to my physical ailments distracting me, or maybe because of them, he mentioned "incarnational living" at the beginning of his sharing and I rabbit-trailed off for a while trying to remember what "incarntational" meant. Oh, and I was beyond freezing cold; I had refused hot tea when we came in because I didnt know that "a brew" wasn't "a beer" but actually tea. I was a shivering, green, sleepy and confused audience. Poor Sam.

Thankfully, the Spirit showed up, as He usually does when Jesus is being glorified, and suddenly, I could hear Sam clear as a bell and it was as if he was just speaking to me. I fully engaged as he began to share a story about how a young man he had loved, lived beside and poured into for years had recently died of cancer. As the young man was dying, Sam had sat at his hospital bedside, reading the bible to him. Day in and day out and the last time Sam saw him, the young man accepted Jesus.

And then I started to make the connections... Sam had been living in this exceptionally poor neighbourhood for ten years. He had moved in, found work and begun to live life fully with the people there. He didnt just drop in for a day, bringing them resources or food, but instead, made himself poor and, in living with them day in and day out for ten years, he brought them Jesus. He met his wife in that time and she moved there with him. He was robbed by his neighbour and instead of pressing charges he simply continued to love. his. neighbour. For ten years.

I learnt a lot in our day in Manchester. It was full of stories like Sam's. Stories of people like Sam who've lived for YEARS in urban poor neighbourhoods, being Jesus to anyone they can in a way I had never experienced. People like Sam who believe in mission that is a LIFESTYLE, not a one-off. People like Sam who, SELF-ADMITTEDLY, do not experience victories and success every day, month or even year. People like Sam who are BROKEN, weary and in need of a savior just as much as I am. People like Sam who FIGHT hard for the gospel to break forth. I really hope I can be more like Sam.