Strangers At My Door by Jonathan Wilson-HargroverJonathan Wilson-Hartgrover is a very very powerful book about the man, his wife, and the people they have helped in their life. They have taken the bible verse from Matthew 25:35 "For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in" to heart and is doing exactly what it says. They did not care if the person was homeless, what race they were, if they had just gotten out of jail or disabled they helped them.
I have to admit I went into reading this book with skepticism but after reading it touched me and reminded of what Jesus tells us to do. We are to give the gospel to whoever is out there not just those who look good or are nice to us but to everyone. We are to even pray for our enemies. This wonderful couple has taken in the homeless, criminals, and anyone who comes to their door needing help even if people are worried about their lives. I really don't want to give away any of the stories they have told and they all do not turn out peaches and cream.
We need to remember as Christians that we are to help everyone no matter who they are. I know growing up in not so nice areas (yes I have lived in drug riddled areas and poverty areas) that sometimes not always the neighbors in the bad areas where more friendly and caring in those neighborhood than some of the nicer ones I have lived in. Sad but true I know of people who were burned by Christians cause they felt they were only helped cause it was on the "Christian's" check list of to live like "Christ" list not out of true love for a fellow human that Christ also died for. This book reminded me that no matter what a person does or who they are I am to love them. That means the druggie, prostitute, poverty stricken, the mentally ill, the criminals, and etc, it means everyone. This book is reminder to get out of our comfort zone. Yes, it convicted me I have been to comfortable lately in this area. Before you judge me and say oh you are just a privileged white woman, my family is mixed race (yes I know we don't look it but we are) and we have lived way below the poverty level and more than once been very close to being homeless. So please don't judge by looking at a person now you may not know where Christ has brought them from is working on them through right now.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review and was not required to give a good review. This book was a pre-publication copy it will be released in November I recommend it highly.
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