Galatians 6:1-3
Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

Living in community is no picnic, and learning to deeply love is no easy road. People are weird, messy, and broken. They are either too clean or too dirty. They talk too much, express too little, and find ways to push your buttons. They know too little or they know too much. The list goes on and on (and obviously none of this applies to me).
So why do it? Why live and commit to people who are not family? Why share stuff like cars, groceries, and financial debt? Life is so much easier when you are by yourself. No complications. Get up, work, eat, spend, do what you want, go to bed: it’s as simple as that. It’s not like we are married to each other. Why do it?

One word: Jesus.

Jesus was crazy. He travelled with 12 men, was homeless, lived simply, talked about change, and showed how to love the outcasts. In today’s terms, he was crazy. Why did he do it? Why did he show up as a human, consort with prostitutes and lepers, and constantly put up with dumb comments from his followers? He lived in the middle of the dirty, annoying, drunkard, oblivious, broken people. He loved. He didn’t abandon ship when it got tough. He stuck by his 12, even when they just couldn’t get it right.


So, why do we do it? One word: Jesus. If Jesus loves us as the dirty and broken pieces that we are, with an unwavering commitment, than we can continue to inch forward, trying to find that love for each other.


In the film About A Boy, the main character, the little boy named Marcus, is trying to figure out the tough stuff in life: why his mom tried to commit suicide, how to get girls to like him, and trying to deal with the hurt of not fitting in. He eventually befriends Hugh Grant’s character who is a man that lives as an island and is proud of it.


By the end of the film, the odd pair became friends. Despite their differences, they find family in each other, along with an assortment of other quirky characters.
Marcus’s words from the film have always stuck with me: “All I meant was I don't think couples are the future. You need more than that. You need backup. The way I saw it, Will and I both had backup now. It's like that thing he told me Jon Bon Jovi said: "No man is an island."”


Jesus was far from an island. He committed to loving and being part of a crazy cluster of freaks, outcasts, and wandering vagabonds. Sounds good. I’m in.