Teachable moment

As I write this post Caleb and I have just returned home from watching Madea goes to Jail.  Let me say that it is not a movie that would be appropriate for children under 13 because of some the subject matter.  It provided a very teachable moment for Caleb and me to have a good conversation. 

One of the main characters was a street preacher whose ministry was to prostitutes and junkies on the street.  Needless to say she was a tough women and very unorthodox in her approach to preaching the gospel.  Part of her ministry was to give out condoms and clean needles to those people on the street.  Yes it seems crazy and out of line for what a christian should be doing.  But all she was doing was meeting the people where they were and building a trust with them that no bible thumper could ever possibly hope to build.  She was a radical christian not because she was giving people the tools to hopefully keep them a little safer while they indulged in a destructive lifestyle, but because she had been freed herself and she was not willing to let them suffer the same fate.  She knew that her words would not bring the change needed in them but it would be her actions demonstrated in love that would bring the desired result.  The question is are we that radical?  Am I that radical?  I asked Caleb that very question, and talked about how important it was to be real, something that a lost world can look to without judgement and say that is something I want.  This street preacher decided to love those prostitutes without condition or condemnation.  She demonstrated what the power of God’s love can do when given with no strings attached.  Real and radical…..  I have some work to do!