Shaun Groves
When helping people in the developing world I always get the inescapable feeling that I’m helping Jesus. Yesterday, here in Nashville, I also got to help myself.
The bottom floor of his homes were flooded. We tore one of them down to the studs and subflooring. It took a team of ten the whole day. Everything was waterlogged and covered in mud.
An award from ASCAP for songwriting. I’ve got one of those.
A platinum record. Me too.
Boxes of CDs stacked in closets. I’ve got the same stacks going in my garage.
File folders of royalty statements. Binders of lyrics. Reels and cassettes and CDs archiving demos and song ideas. Yep, I know them well.
Computers. Cables. Amps. Guitars. Same thing at my place.
Everything worth drying off, cleaning up and keeping was carried out of this songwriter’s house and laid on the front porch by our team. Tools and souvenirs from decades of music making. I felt like I was unpacking my home, my life – a less successful version of it anyway.
One member of our team struggled out loud with spending her day off work helping this guy when there are others worse off. After all, this guy is rich by the world’s standards.
Aren’t we all?
He’s you and me…and her.
And if rich people like us are worth the expense of God’s Son, well, I figure we’re easily worth spending a few hours of demolition on too.
Aren’t we?
If you’re in the Nashville area, Crosspoint and Hands On Nashville still need your time and muscle. If you’re from somewhere else and have a few bucks to invest in our neighbors, you can donate to either organization as well.
Thanks for loving the least, even when they have more than most.
Jason says:
Absolutely. Someone in need is someone in need.
misty says:
Most definately! Needs are needs! Loving others is loving others!
Karina says:
The whole law can be summed up like this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, spirit and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.
I’m guessing this songwriter qualifies as your neighbor no matter how much he’s been given. And, making an assumption here, wouldn’t the spiritually deprived be counted among the “least of these”? So, I guess it still qualifies as helping Jesus. 🙂
Prudence says:
At church on Sunday I over heard someone comment basically to the effect that they’ll get through it. The devastation wasn’t as bad as New Orleans.
My thought was, does that matter. People lost EVERYTHING and have been displaced from their now rotting homes.
Then I saw a headline on the local newspaper’s website here that Kenny Chesny’s home was flooded. It showed a picture of the water level being just below the eaves of the house. All the comments were basically “who cares, he’s rich. He can replace everything.”
But once again he lost everything. He’s home was sitting in a minimum of 8 feet of water. People have little compassion for those greater than themselves, and oddly enough little compassion for those lesser than themselves.
Jason says:
“People have little compassion for those greater than themselves, and oddly enough little compassion for those lesser than themselves.”
Would it be too cynical to say “anyone but themselves”?
Shaun Groves says:
I think it’s inaccurate.
I travel all over the country asking people to have compassion on complete strangers in the third world. And they do! It’s miraculous, really.
I think people are pretty dang compassionate in general.
Karina says:
I’d venture to say that compassion or lack thereof follows judgment.
If I see a rich man who has lost all his worldly possessions, I might be inclined to think that he has enough money in the bank to replace his possessions, and therefore does not need my help. On the other hand, if I see a rich man who has lost all his worldly possessions, I could be inclined to think how he must be hurting and want to help him.
Likewise, if I see a poor hungry person, I might be inclined to think that they are helpless of their situation and in need of my compassion. Or I could view the same person as the cause of their own suffering and therefore withhold my help.
So compassion is entirely subject to one’s judgment of the situation at hand or else by one’s ability to see another person through God’s eyes and ignore their own judgment.
ET @ Titus2:3-5 says:
I’m with Karina. People have compassion on those they deem worthy of their compassion.
While I don’t condone that line of thinking, I must say that I’m glad that each of us is moved to action by different things. Some by the wealthy but spiritually poor, some by those living in poverty, some by the plight of their Christian brothers and sisters in need, some by the lost, some by starvation, some by natural disasters, some by abuse…
I believe that God places a unique love in each of us for a unique people group with a unique set of “problems.” This diversity is how He accomplishes His purposes throughout the world! That, to me, is a miracle.
Prudence says:
Shaun you are right. There are a lot of people out there that are extremely, extremely compassionate. Those who do give out of their poverty to help others. I think of all things that is one thing that the Compassion blogger’s trips can teach us.
Jen~Beautiful Mess says:
I pray if I need help that I don’t have to live below “someone’s” standards to deserve help.
I deserve hell…but Christ gave me LIFE!
I pray that I can GIVE freely as it has been GIVEN to me…
Lance says:
I wanted to share with you Shaun that I spoke with this family last night. I gathered them together to tell them of your story and the parallels without identifying you within the group. It isn’t always easy to see the needs of the heart within people who are the ones who are lifting up or inspiring others. This reflection you shared is important, as you as well are in need of grace and the efforts of others without the judgment that we sometimes pass when we think people do not need the love of others.
You do a lot for others, and when needed there will be people to lift you up as well. I pray that God lifts you up and restores your energy for you to continue in your ministry. If that was your life scattered across the yard in ruins, we would be there to try to meet your needs.
Amy says:
I have often thought that people are so busy ministering to the poor, that we forget that a lot of times the rich need ministering. They may not need STUFF, but they do need God.