We had a "Family Meeting" type worship on Sunday. Our church is trying to help more at the women's shelter, but to do that we have to have everyone's help. The service was to help people see how they can help and why they should help. A lot of people were absent, and I know flu is still going around, but it was really frustrating to me. I feel like the members of this congregation are uncommitted, to Christ and to His Body here. One of the questions put to us Sunday was to think of a time that someone helped you, and then of a time when you helped someone and how you felt. I thought of a time that we needed some finanacial help. We had moved to Texas and bought our first home. We had been out of work for about 18 months and so money was tight. A couple of days after we moved in, the roof started leaking. It wasn't covered under the house warranty, and we suddenly found ourselves faced with a big bill. A man at church said he would loan us the money. "Wow," we thought, "what a wonderful thing." Then the money came, attached to legal papers to make sure it was paid back. Now there wasn't any interest connected to it, but there was a paper from a lawyer saying that it had to be paid back in a certain amount of time. Certainly it was fine for him to have done that, but it didn't feel like it was a gift loan. We paid it back way before it was required, and the loaner was shocked. I guess he had loaned money before, and not been paid back. A few years later, one of our students in the campus minstry needed some money to buy a car. She was going to lose her job because she didn't have reliable transportation. We loaned her the money, with no legal requirements. She never did pay back all of the money. However, a few weeks ago-- which is years after the loan-- we heard from her that she has finally taken to heart advice about living on a budget. She is married to another of the students, and they have started a family. In both instances the members of the Christian family were helped. The difference was in whether the members felt like it was a family. The examples of the church helping in the book of Acts seem to be giving with the heart of helping out a family member. Whether the help was repaid we aren't told, but the heart of giving seems to be there. The women we will help at the shelter will likely never repay it to us, but maybe years later they will be able to help someone else. The heart has to be in the giving, however, for it to make a difference.