He shined
This weekend is Crashapalooza, where eXchange does all kinds of outreach to the Wabash Valley to show the love of Jesus in real and practical ways.
My wife, Wendy, decided she wanted her Crash to be cleaning toilets at a couple bars in town (inspired by Vineyard Church’s outreach of cleaning the toilets at the Hustler magazine offices). Radical? You bet. She got a few people to sign up, and we were to meet at Java Haute at 12:15 a.m. (yes, that’s a.m.; I don’t remember the last time I was up this late!) Everyone was there by 12. Omar, Joanne (hope I spelled your name right), Elizabeth, Ezra, Jenny, Rick, Wendy and myself. Mike T., our video guru, was there to capture what video he could as we’ll be showing a montage on Sunday evening of this weekend’s events. I was simply along for the ride. This was my wife’s gig, and I didn’t want to get in the way.
The plan was to go to a couple bars, get in, clean the restrooms, and get out. Turns out the two bars we picked were packed to the gills and, frankly, cleaning busy bathrooms at peak time didn’t make a lot of sense. We were hoping the crowds would be thin enough at our scheduled time (scheduled with the cleaners, not with the bars), but we were wrong. No worries. Mike says, “I know the owner of a place just a few blocks away, let’s try them.”
Pay dirt! The owner of the place we stopped at was thrilled that someone was going to clean his bathrooms for free. It was Karaoke night, so the place was blaring with familiar beats and unfamiliar singers. The smell of smoke and beer was thick. Our crew waded through the crowd, found the bathrooms, and went straight to work.
The entire time they were cleaning, the owner couldn’t stop saying, “I can’t believe you’re doing this.” At one point some of the employees were crowded around the open door to the women’s bathroom in wonder as to why anyone would do what our people were doing. One guy came up and said, “you guys are in trouble, right? This is some kind of community service?” Jenny answered him. “No, we’re just doing it to do it. Jesus wants us to show love to people, so that’s what we’re doing.” He said a curse word and walked off, shaking his head in disbelief, a smile on his face.
At one point, Elizabeth stated (in so many words), “I’m glad I did this. I’m glad I’m here.”
Once those bathrooms were cleaned we decided to try another bar in town. We drove the few minutes there and got approval to head in and clean (”but be quick” they said). Everyone went straight to work, but we wore out our welcome sooner rather than later, so we called it quits and headed out.
While all of this is somewhat radical, it’s not what everyone did that amazes me. It’s how they did it. Everyone involved wanted to clean. Everyone wanted gloves on. I had to go get more gloves out of the car, because everyone wanted to get in there and get busy. Ezra was on his hands and knees scrubbing the floor in the men’s room. Everyone was smiling and laughing. Omar was chatting it up with anyone that walked by, eye to eye, person to person, laughing with them. The patrons in the establishments we visited couldn’t quite grasp the concept, which is okay. I’m not so sure we were doing it for them. The ladies in our crew got to see a girl puke at the second place we went. What’s a trip to a bar if someone doesn’t puke?
My wife and I have spent more than our fair share in bars on Friday and Saturday nights (in our younger, wilder days), and a couple three people from our group did as well. There was a familiarity to it all, and yet, I firmly believe Jesus would be right there in the middle of it all. Scrubbing on his hands and knees, like Ezra did. Just talking to people, enjoying their company, like Omar did. I looked at this group of Jesus followers, and I saw them disappear. In their stead, the visage of Christ emerged. Christ shined as they cleaned dirty, nasty bathrooms and toilets. All with a Thessalonians-style joy in their heart and in their eyes. I saw Christ’s hands and feet tonight. I saw his heart tonight.
We have a saying in eXchange. “Community happens on the way to cause.” This is true. I can’t wait to see the people I hung out with tonight, shake their hands, give them hugs, chat about our experiences together, and look forward to being together again. Community can and does happen on the way to cause.
Scot talks of thin places. You know, those places where it seems heaven and earth move just a little closer to each other for a time. Tonight was one of those moments. I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to bask in it. I wanted to raise my hands to God and worship him in it. It felt like a river washing over me. It was as if we could feel angel’s wings beating just over our heads.
It might have been midnight but He shined. There was no darkness. Only light. And it was good.
jesus, service, outreach, crash, exchangemcc, vineyard, hustler
