Imagine this scenario:  You live a simple but happy life.  You work as a teacher, your spouse as a pharmacist.  Your children are growing and learning at school, you’re surrounded by family, and you have goals you are accomplishing.  Until the worst case scenario occurs.  War breaks out in your country.  It moves into your city.  The rumors are that they are going to be attacking your village tomorrow.  In other villages that have already been attacked, there are no survivors left – you’ve heard horror stories – some of friends you once laughed and joked with.  The attackers hate you because of your religion, the color of your skin, or maybe your political beliefs. 

You have no idea what to do.  You pray but you can’t sleep – there seems to be no answer from your god.  You go in and stare at your children’s peaceful sleeping faces.  They have no idea what is going on in the world around them – what terrors could be facing them in the morning.  Finally you decide.  You really have no choice.  You and your spouse quickly pack one light bag of food and basic supplies.  You each carry one of your children as you hurry out the front door of the only house you’ve ever known.  There is no time for goodbyes.  You must put as much distance between you and your attackers as you can.  You take one last look behind you and then turn to face the darkness and unknown path before you.

After days of walking you finally reach another village of sorts.  This village is loud and dirty, but at least it is safe.  Maybe.  It’s made up of tents, and the people meeting your family at the entrance tell you that you can take refuge here.  Here the attackers can’t harm you.  So you enter, grateful for a place to sit and rest.  You settle in under a tarp with your spouse and children for your first night in this new strange place.  You are glad to be safe, but you hear the sounds around you and wonder.  There are cries, screams, fights, and horrible language being used.  This is not what your children need either.  As the days in the tents stretch on, you realize you are safe from your attackers, but this is a refugee camp where there is a lot of disease and it’s a dangerous area of crime and no schooling.

Finally, there is hope.  The United Nations says you can start over.  They have a new place for you to live, but it is far away.  Life will be hard, but there are opportunities for a good life and true safety.  You really long to go back to your home, but it is not there anymore.  Your attackers burned your house down and have now taken over the entire surrounding area.  You can never go back.  So you decide to take a chance in this strange new place called Nashville, TN – your assigned new home.

You get on your first airplane ride with anticipation of the life ahead but also a lot of apprehension.  You arrive to find a completely new system to everything – grocery shopping, banking, driving, the culture, the language.  Everything is new.  Nobody is very friendly – it doesn’t seem these Americans want anymore outsiders living here.  It turns out that even though you and your spouse have high levels of education that you can’t get jobs here.  In America there are different laws about certifications and licenses.  And you don’t speak the language anyway.  How is this going to be better?

In steps World Relief.  This organization sets up an apartment for you.  They have food and supplies waiting for you.  They show you how to use the technology inside the new apartment like the toliet – you thought it was a potato washer.  They help you both find jobs – it’s McDonalds and a cleaning job, but it’s work and you’re grateful for the chance.  You are able to take English classes, your kids attend school, and before long you are able to navigate the grocery stores and translate some of the strange labels.  But by law World Relief can’t help you for long – you’re required to be on your own in six to eight months.  Thankfully during that time, a church steps in who partners with World Relief.  You meet friends in that church who care.  They recognize that you didn’t come here by choice but by necessity.  They love on you, listen to you, and they help you navigate America.  Most importantly, they are your friends. 

Time passes and you are able to help some new refugees yourself.  Your heart still aches for home, but you are thankful for the new start you have in this land of so many hopes and dreams.  Most importantly, you had never heard of Jesus Christ until you met your new friends at church.  Your previous religion was based on a checklist of items and tasks you could never seem to master or live up to.  This Jesus is different.  These people are different – they say it’s because of Him. 

Operation Crazy Love is a movement of our church born out of the desire to reach the community by acting as the hands and feet of Christ.  Instead of re-inventing the wheel and trying to dream up new ways to minister to the community ourselves, we wanted to partner up with the organizations already doing the work.   There are several organizations represented through Operation Crazy Love.  This blog shares information about World Relief.

World Relief is an organization that desires to equip the church to serve the most vulnerable – refugees in our country.  A refugee is not an immigrant.  Immigrants come by choice and choose where they want to live.  Refugees come because they have no choice – they must leave or risk losing their life.  The United Nations assigns them a place to live  – the choices spread the globe.  But many families get assigned right here in Nashville, TN.  Long Hollow wants to help reach out to these foreigners living in our land. 

Think about this:  To reach the nations, we don’t have to leave our city!  The nations are coming to us in droves!  About 1000 families are expected this year.  What better way to show them Christ by meeting their most basic needs in probably the scariest time of their lives?  If those refugees come to know Christ, they will be able to share with their relatives still in their home countries.  We don’t go anywhere, and we’ve touched lives around the world!

Please take the time to look over the opportunities to serve these precious people.  Pray about taking the time to connect to and invest in a refugee family’s lives.  Check back often!