“What on earth are these people thinking right now?” It's all I can think as Momma Hill and I walk into a new church Sunday morning.
We don’t look like a normal little family, but it is what we have become. A middle-aged African American, and a 22 year old white college girl, traipsing around Colorado, sometimes accompanied by Momma Hill’s daughter and grandson.
Earlier in our friendship I sometimes felt embarrassed by this small spectacle. Not by our family, but just because it is different. Our little group is not something you see every day but as the days have gone on, I’ve learned to embrace the looks we get and just smile, and especially to laugh at whatever comes out of Momma Hill's mouth, because chances are it is going to be controversial, maybe crude, totally honest, and most of the time generally hilarious.
The thing is, Momma Hill generally has a lot of wisdom and a lot of love to share. I want to share her golden sentiments of knowledge on life and living because #1, it’s usually hilarious and #2, everything about her tells a story; every smile, every laugh, every memory, every twinkle, every step. And I don’t want to forget this one, because someday I’ll gather my kids up and tell them these stories, and remind them to never ever not help someone, and always go the extra mile, even if it means going against what seems normal, the moral being: helping people is not always the normal thing to do, but at least make it the natural thing to do.
This particular morning, a brisk beautiful day in downtown Denver, Momma Hill and I went to a new church plant for its first Sunday. We felt welcomed and loved (check it out: generations.city).
Have you ever been struck by someone in curious wonder? I have. I watched Momma Hill as she walked right up to strangers and said hello and asked about them, and then I was unsure what to say when she told them how she wants them to know she is there because of me taking the time to make sure “Ol Momma Hills gets some Jesus today!”
She greets everyone, and I mean E V E R Y O N E.
The lead pastor she meets and makes sure to remind him to preach the truth, “I better hear some holy spirit in your words, ok?”
She laughs at the kids playing around, “They are cute Cass, but Aiden (her grandson) is so much cuter right? You agree and you have to ‘cus he’s got a white dad and a black Momma and thats the best lil combo there.”
She offers constructive criticism to the staff, “OK so it was pretty good, you know, but that pretty girl singing on the left should be louder because she got a beautiful voice and I wanna hear her more.”
She indulges in the little things, “Cassie do not be over there eating all them cupcakes, they is not good for you.” “Michelle, didn’t you say you wanted one earlier?” “Oh YEAH das right girl! Save me one!”
She asks people if they have the Holy Spirit in them, and “Good, keep him there.”
She shares her travel concerns, “Girl, if I go to Africa imma have to put on a nice lil skirt and let me tell you, okay, are you listening? Okay, the world aint ready to see Momma Hills legs.”
She reminds me that love is worth waiting for, “Yeah Cass lemme tell you something, that boy is just gonna wake up one day and realize you is it, and when he does you just gotta tell him 'Momma Hill told you so, you dumb@$$.' And then at your wedding, even if its in like 20 years and I'm dead in the ground, you gotta tell people Momma Hill knew all along that you was meant to be together because you both do good things together and you will love him even though it’s taking him so long to realize you are the one for him.”
Momma Hill and I have been adventuring around since early 2016. We come from completely different backgrounds and lives, but are proof that sometimes friendship is weird, but that weirdness is what makes it work.
The moral of all this friend, is to say that getting out of your comfort zone is always worth it, because people are worth it.
People are complex and unique and different and all around amazing.
Is there a place in your life, some space for something worth it, and maybe something different?
It was not in my plan to start taking a middle aged woman and her family to church on Sundays, but it never should not have been. Maybe plans are a bit dumb because we really don’t know what the future holds.
Our culture has lost a bit of what it means to hold people above our own needs, and above each other.
I can’t help but wonder what army veterans think when they see kids playing video games on war and killing, except to think, “That isn’t a game…it was real.”
And how are we holding people special when people feel like the law is against them and their lives and families?
And when we kill babies because they are an inconvenience to our current lifestyles…
When we see plane crashes and car accidents and shootings and whatever else and we barely feel remorse because it just seems normal. These things do not hit us on the news until they have hit us in real life, sadly.
People are not normal, our lives are not normal. People are unique and one of a kind, each placed in their specific life for a reason.
I know this because I’ve lived it. I live it every Sunday with Momma Hill.
My challenge is to get out of your comfort zone. Either be the person who is seeking out the ones who don’t fit in, or be the one willing to drop everything to help someone who is.
I realize something over the past few months, and I mean this in the most encouraging way:
I always want to be “that” person.
I want to be the person no one is surprised to see sitting on a street corner talking to a homeless man.
I want to be the person that drops everything for a friend in need, every time.
I want to be the person that hangs out with a variety of different people.
I want to be the person that sees other people, not just other differences.
This one time, I saw these two young guys on the sidewalk near my church, holding up the usual, “Homeless, please help” signs that are way too familiar in Colorado. I’m in college, I don’t have much. If I could buy them a meal I would, but all I had was an open afternoon…so that was what I gave. We laughed and talked and shared stories. Maybe it looked funny; a well dressed (I like to think I have good style…) young girl, with two young males who were obviously unkept. They liked to write music, and shared some of it with me (A bit of a dig, but on my instagram @cassjorge).
One of them was passionate about photography, and said if he could do anything he would buy a camera with the money he’s saved and become a photographer for National Geographic, “Or something big and neat like that.” Man, I hope he does, he had some real talent…
It is true that our world is a bit broken, a tad sideways, off the track and over the bridge…
But if you could do one thing, like loving an unloveable, in whatever shape or form that is for you, whether it is a stranger on the street or someone who has become a stranger in your own home, would you do it?
It might not seem natural, but let’s make it become normal.
"There are many of us willing to do great things, but few are willing to do small things." -D.L. Moody
