A Riddle:
Q. How do you make an unlawful house lawful?
A. You move four criters and two cars out, and then move 4 critters and two cars in.
Faced with dilemma of mounting fines and lawsuits from the City, and seeking to be law abiding while not wanting to fail to show divine hospitality to our God sent guests, I prayed the only prayer possible:
“God Help Us!”
….and he did.
I woke one night and Dad popped an idea into my head, so the next morning I texted our son Luke and his wife Katie. I told them the situation:
……that the day before we left for N Carolina, Shiela had come to us and said that she felt they were strong enough now, and ready for the next step, which was to find a place of their own while maintaining the family ties with us.
…..that Shiela was planning to move….. but the City had given us only one week’s notice….too little time for her to find somewhere.
“No problem” Luke and Katie said, “We can do a house swop for a few months!”
…..and so last Sunday, Shiela, Amber Sky, Hopa and David, packed up their belongings and moved to the Luke Kyle’s house as their temporary dwelling in Minneapolis, while Luke, Katie, Rex the dog and Steve the cat packed up and moved in here. As they are all Kyles……that makes us now – “legal”
(To say “The Law is an ass” in this instance would seem to me a grievous insult to another of God’s good criters : – )
We reckoned the basement would work better for the animals, so Matt and Ali the two remaining non-Kyle legal residents happily offered to move their stuff up three flights of stairs to new quarters there.
Rex, meet your new neighbors!
All in all it was a day filled with a spontaneous outpouring of kindness and consideration.
“....not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” (Phil.2:4)
It was an experience of ‘the kingdom of God’ on earth as we watched people’s lives graciously flowing together.
As I closed the trunk of our car to transport the ladies belongings I noticed our license plate which I had seen a thousand times before. I paused to reflect wondering if there might be a message in it for us at this juncture in all our lives.
The number 9 represents “Visitation” where God comes to assess and pass judgement. The number 4 is a most significant number for Native people. (The four directions, colors, seasons of life etc. )
I realized we had just experienced a visitation of God. In the visitation of this Indian family, we had been under review by God. Would we treat these ‘little ones’ (Matt.25:40 TPT) as he would want us to?
I felt we all received the answer in the VXL. The X represents Christ’s selfless love displayed on the Cross. The V and the L, the Victory of this Love lived out.
Consistent with the ‘kingdom of God’ essentials I outlined last week, we harbor no resentment against anyone for these ongoing challenges that we have had to walk through for over a year now. Quite the contrary we are so thankful to God ……I’ll explain why in the next blog : -)