Christian Hippies #3

Wow, this has been such a trip. Common Ground, Shreveport, Louisiana. www.lvoe.org

This group of people differed, haha, yet again from anything I'd seen before. I don't know if it's the amount of time I've spent here, the personalities involved here, or our general relationship (I told them by age, lifestyle as well) to one another....but the people of this community have welcomed me and shown me hospitality in ways I had never imagined.

To begin with, everyone in the formal "community" is middle aged, most with children almost my age. This created an immediate parent-child like bond. However, I never felt demeaned or belittled. Beyond that, I felt welcomed as a peer who was also along "the journey" of discovering what this Following Jesus was all about....for the long haul.

They were not radical but practical people who in their own words had "woken-up" mid life and decided to change their lives. I don't know if I could do it like they are doing. They have such great hearts and a wonderful love for one another and the community that they have been spending a lot of time in. They have bought 2 houses there, cook dinner weekly, and created a garden. They started a health clinic. However, every one of them would tell you that that is not important at all. What has "wrecked their lives" and been the greatest blessing all at the same time has been the relationships with the people they've met and learned from. They've become real friends.

No one's a vegetarian and no one obsesses over fair trade/organic. They fight with themselves, their peers, and the institutionalized church to discover the best way to love their friends.

Amongst the group, some personality traits. One woman had my bed spread (she let me sleep in her huge bed!) and my same birthday. One man is more of a Shane fanatic than I can ever hope to be. One woman seems like a few years older version of me, struggling constantly with feelings of inadequacy when she doesn't do enough. Some have seen their children go off and become monastics. Others struggle with their kid's spending habits (which they allowed and have sustained so long).

What a testament that being a Christian is a lifelong journey. We're never too far gone. Never too far gone for Jesus to "wreck our lives" and throw us back on the right path, straight to him. What a blessing its been to learn from their many trials. Sharing in the joy and pain of common discovery. We laughed and even cried some together.