AN EXTRAORDINARY TRIP

“Most people never get there.  They're afraid or unwilling to demand enough of themselves and take the easy road, the path of least resistance.  But struggling and suffering, as I now saw it, were the essence of a life worth living.  If you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not constantly demanding more from yourself--expanding and learning as you go—you’re choosing a numb existence.  You’re denying yourself an extraordinary trip.”
 ― Dean Karnazes, Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

This past Sunday, I was able to walk a few steps with a couple who are on an extraordinary trip.  I was truly inspired as Jane and I worshipped together with The Atlanta Dream Center on Sunday. Paul and Patti Palmer, who have had their share of suffering and trials (which, by the way, I will not speak of here), serve the Lord with excellence!  Not excellence in building or location.  I think we met in a converted metal warehouse seated on plastic folding chairs in an area that I’ve had nightmares about being lost in.  Simply put, what I witnessed in the heart of Atlanta was an excellence of heart.  What I felt was a purity born out of love and compassion and made alive through action.  I live in a world of words and many times find myself acting as if words are proof of something.  Proof, poof!  Words and sentiments expressed are but cheap imitations of true compassion which seeks to live and work on the same street as hurt and pain.

In the service, I met an array of persons who were people of pain but have found Christ to be their healer.  They included a former crack-using prostitute who now ministers to those who are still junked up and in captivity, the ex-con who runs a security business, a past drug dealer who now gives himself to the Lord, and the list goes on!  I also encountered a shining group of young people who are learning how to be agents of reconciliation from two of His finest teachers.  Not only are they learners, but they have infused this warehouse of grace with greater creativity and ingenuity as they have ministered to the community around them with a wide array of activities.

After the morning worship, we rode through the streets as this incredible couple pointed out place after place where the power of God’s love conquered the hatred of the Devil.  At one point, Paul stopped his car in the middle of the road to find out why a person crossing the street in front of him was not at service.  Then as we made our way to the restaurant, if felt like he took forever to walk thirty feet because he couldn’t meet a stranger.  His actions reminded me that a true shepherd will go anywhere and everywhere to gather those for whom Jesus died, and he acted like Jesus died for the whole world!  After a delicious Southern lunch at Mary Mac’s, Paul and Patty showed us a street that really raised all our levels of excitement. The street that had once been filled with pushers, addicts, and violence but was now transformed with the Dream Center occupying one of the buildings located there.

Can this kind of “extraordinary trip” only happen with the inner city as its dynamic backdrop and with persons like the Palmers?  I’m glad you asked!  I have seen fellow travelers all over.  In Georgia, they inhabit the mountainous north, the metro region, the eastern slopes, and middle Georgia to the flat lands of the south.  They have in common a love for God, a refusal to live in the comfort zone, and a hatred of living a numb existence!  I pray that you too will find your journey on this side of extraordinary!