God Loves Everyone

“You are a liar, you are a phony, and if you were to punch anyone in the face—it should be yourself.” These were the words my RYM group witnessed a woman reciting to a younger more vulnerable woman on the R-Line bus.

​This week at RYM we learned about what it means to live abundantly, what living abundantly looks like, and how God has called us to serve those who lack abundance. During the week, we played an activity called ‘Continuums.’ In this game, someone reads out a statement, and people place themselves accordingly on a scale of “agree” versus “disagree.” The last statement in the game was “God cares the most about people who are poor and/or oppressed.” Once this statement was announced, the majority of people moved more towards the 100% agree spectrum. This shocked me. If anything, I feel neutral to this statement.

​In my experience, the people who are poor and/or oppressed, suffer the most. They are amongst some of the loneliest people, the most invisible, and the most uncared for. Throughout my life I have been taught that God loves all his children. This past week, we have cared for those who are poor and/or oppressed by spreading God’s love, but what happens once we are gone? We are taught to continue these actions out of kindness and God’s will, but it is sometimes difficult to spare some change when we already have ill intentions. It’s no new news that people do not typically give money to people on the street. We are taught or assume that we should not spare a dollar, not even a dime, because the person may go and spend the money on alcohol or drugs.

​It is difficult when we live in a world where it is not always safe to serve those, in a world where we teach our children not to give away their resources. But sometimes, God leads us to not turn our backs on those we are weary of, whether that be through their appearance or social status. I saw this with my group predominantly through our R-Line experience.

​As the woman at the beginning of this story, made her final and ultimately crude remarks, my youth and adult leaders paid close attention to both women. The first woman, the one making the comments, appeared look like a well kept woman who had no patience for those who appeared lesser. In her lap, was a white plastic bag that contained a salad and other various food items. The woman had offered the other one her salad, but did not fail to admit that she must’ve been crazy to offer it at all. The other woman was skinny with tangled light brown hair, old beat up Nike sneakers, a black trash bag, and one pinched eye. As the older woman spoke to this lady, it was clear she could not hear very well. The other passengers on the bus appeared purposely oblivious.

​There were many attempts made to help the young woman in need, but none seemed to work, for the woman was too timid and fearful. Finally, one of the adult leaders pulled out a sheet, and calmly spoke to the skittish girl about some locations she could attain a free lunch. The leader explained that on the sheet were locations the woman could find help for free, while paying no attention to the yelling woman. Eventually, it was our stop to get off and with this we asked the quiet girl if she wanted to get off with us as to direct her to Shepherd’s Table. She said no, but she kept the sheet.

​Once we returned to the church, we debriefed, and prayed not only for the woman who needed a free lunch, but also for the woman who persecuted her. God loves everyone no matter what race, social class, or difference. It is debated on whether God loves or cares more for one people rather than another, but maybe some people need God’s love more than others. Some people have nobody to love or are loved by no one. Thus, it is crucial for us to spread this love and let it be known that people are loved, because without love there is hate.

​Tai Ruinsky is a summer intern at Raleigh Youth Mission.  She attends American University