1 Timothy 5

It took me a really long time to just decide to do the next chapter in 1 Timothy. I felt a lot of pressure trying to think of my favorite chapter in the Bible to write about for my birthday. However, Since I have now been doing this for over 8 months, the likelihood of me not having already chosen a chapter that could even remotely count as a favorite is extraordinarily slim. I have even already done the next chapter, 1 Tim 6 so this is it for Paul's first letter to Timothy.

The cool thing about God's Word is though is that it's Alive. It's alive and working in me. It's all useful. And it's all a "fresh letter from to me from God" as my mother said yet again this evening. :) So, without further ado, here are my thoughts after reading 1 Timothy 5.

This chapter holds a treasure chest of good advice. But I think we think of it as just that. Advice. Take it or leave it. But that's not what Paul (or God who inspired it and included it in His Word) intended. When someone offers wise counsel that lines up with the will of God, it's really a command. Although there are lots of nuggets here, the overall message is about taking care of widows. I know this can start arguments, but to me, today's widows are single moms. They are almost always poor or struggling financially. They are subject to fall into relational sin. They may have too much idle time or may have the opposite problem trying to handle their children without the support of Christian friends. To sum it up, the broken families all around all of us need the Church's help.

Brannon and I have made the decision to take in foster kids. We really didn't particularly want to. We imagined that it would be difficult. But after going through over two months of a very intrusive and extensive process, we've found that it's going to be much harder than we thought. The goal isn't really to just be a temporary home to a displaced child. The role really puts you in the unique position of ministering to the whole shattered family. The whole situation was obviously so in need of intervention that the state stepped in an traumatically took the children from everything they know. We'll get inserted right in the middle of a family we would have never known existed any other way.

Our church like many asks people to do things like go on weekend mission trips or serve the community at shelters or food pantries. But we have realized that we will probably never fell any pressure to do any of those things from now on. We're inviting our mission field into our home. 24/7. Holy cow that's going to be stressful. It's going to challenge our own family relationships. It's going to stretch our schedule and resources. It's going to make things awkward. And it's going to be painful in a lot of ways.

But the worst thing to me about it is that other Christians act like we deserve a medal or something. I don't think Paul had a sheet of gold stars that he stuck on Timothy's chart. He gave honor where honor was due, but taking care of the poor and distressed is a minimum here. Not the exception. I guess an outcome I hope for is that other people will be inspired to live like this chapter commands us to and Do Hard Things.