I Was Born-Again Lazy

My name is Josh Avery, and until 2007, I was born-again lazy. It's a strange sounding term, but it's one that my friend J.R. created for the kinds of people who accept and profess Jesus but do nothing about it. From a young age, I had accepted the sacrifice of Christ and had become "born again," but beyond that Christianity had very little impact in my everyday life.

 

 I attended Church every single Sunday morning, helped with my local youth group, and was even taking Bible classes at Geneva College to achieve a Bachelor's degree in Student Ministry-- but I was still lazy when it came to actually doing something about my faith. Faith was something I talked about on Sunday morning and within my classes, not something that transformed day to day interactions.

 

 This boring state of existence was forever altered on one late and snowy February night on the streets of Pittsburgh in that fateful year of 2007. Getting back late to a hotel conference I was attending and finding no open seats, I decided to hit the streets to hand out a free Bible I had acquired earlier that day. It was dark, cold, and every road was populated by countless homeless people attempting to keep warm in the winter winds. I eventually met a man with a pillowcase full of belongings slung over his shoulder named Clayton-- a man who asked an inevitable question I was expecting from the homeless: "Do you have any change for some food?"

 

 Instead of handing over cash and walking back to the warmth of my hotel, I decided to walk with him to a Chinese restaurant several blocks away and buy his meal. As they prepared the food, I gave him the Bible and he placed it inside his pillowcase next to the other items he had collected over the years. Since the place was closing down for the night, Clayton grabbed his meal and we headed back onto the icy streets once more. As we walked, he pointed out a group of people sitting across the street-- young and old of both genders-- who were huddled together in a pile. Clayton explained that it was highly likely that the members of the huddle didn't even know each other but were simply gathering for warmth, and that this phenomena happened often to avoid people freezing to death on the February city streets. When survival is at stake, he explained, you don't worry about who you're snuggled up next to for the night.

 

 It's been over eight years since I met Clayton in Pittsburgh and quit being born-again lazy, because I simply couldn't live in complacency knowing there were people starving and freezing on the streets. I now work at the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley as a Men's Client Advisor, and I meet face to face with the homeless each and every day I go to my job. While most people (including my past self) assume that homeless people are uneducated and aren't interested in getting a job, I have come to find out that those thoughts simply aren't true. I've met countless people with GEDs who have an incredible work ethic and will take any job thrown at them, and I've also met others who have Master Degrees but have absolutely nothing to their name, nowhere to stay, and nothing to eat.

 

 Being born-again lazy is easy, but it's an incredibly boring story to tell with your life. Trust me, I used to be the laziest Christian you could ever meet. When I started to get involved in the lives of the poor, the destitute, and the needy, it changed my life forever. I'm no longer living the kind of story that revolves around me-- I'm constantly learning from the people that I'm tasked with helping at the Mission.

 

 If you've realized that you might be born-again lazy like I was, consider introducing an interesting plotline into your life story. If you feel God's prodding, come join in on the stories we've been telling here at the Mission: volunteer to serve during a meal, come take a tour; get involved in the life changing processes that occur here every single day. As you attempt to change the lives of others through your help, you'll find your life being transformed as well.

 

 My name is Josh Avery, and I was born-again lazy... but now I'm alive, past the monotony of simple existence, in the transformational work of Christ.