Pushed out of the place they love
By the director of SEND’s Diaspora | North America team — Think about your neighborhood … your home … your job … your school.
What would compel you to get up in the middle of the night, grab all the money you have, wake your kids, and head out of town … or out of the country? By the way, you are heading somewhere where you don’t have a job, don’t have housing, don’t know the language. In fact , you aren’t even sure if you will be welcome.
There would have to be some force, some evil, something horrible that is causing you to leave everything you’ve ever worked for. You would need to be pushed out.
This is exactly what has happened to thousands of refugees. For many of these families, they have been living in the midst of famine, war, and persecution, and they have been threatened with prison or death. Out of options, they leave. They have been PUSHED out.
Some other immigrants may not leave in the middle of the night, but they are pushed nonetheless. They may be pushed out by poverty, lack of educational opportunity, or hopeless unemployment. They may not want to leave home, but they know that if they don’t go, there won’t be any hope. So they leave.
As you meet new immigrants in your neighborhood or city, remember that these are people who are hurting because they were pushed out of a place they love . More then 250 million people are living in a country they weren’t born in. Many of these people didn’t leave because they wanted to move somewhere warm; they were pushed to go somewhere else. Somewhere where they hope they can have a future.
What these people don’t know is that they aren’t here on accident. In fact, they are right where God wants them to be. As Paul says:
And
he made from one man every nation of mankind to live
on all the face of the earth,
having determined allotted periods and
the boundaries of their dwelling place,
that they should seek God,
and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him
( Acts 17:26-27
).
God has determined that at this time they will live in this place. In fact, the same is true for you. You live where you are right now because that is where God wants to use you. Why? So that the immigrant would perhaps seek God and find him. And for you, follower of Jesus, that you may help someone find him.
So, go out and find someone who has been pushed. Help them get up and find their way to an eternal home where our heavenly Father is waiting to welcome them.
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