Apartment fires seem to be all to common within our city, perhaps its because in just 6 short months several members of our community have been caught in the catastrophic turmoil of losing their home.
In October, three guys from our community were awakened at 5am to the sounds of shouting and smoke billowing into their apartment. They grabbed some clothes, made their way out onto the fire escape and out the street to safety just before the entire building was engulfed in flames. Unfortunately for Adam, Luke and Michael, they lost everything they owned.
I got the text about the fire shortly after 5a and quickly made my way down to the police station where they were being taken. It wasn’t long before Katie, another member of our community showed up to greet them and sit with them. We eventually made our way to the hospital where the Red Cross was waiting to care for the 40 or so people who had lost everything. Shortly after that Sean showed up (another member of our community) with some clothes for the guys, and then a little while longer before John popped in with some more clothes and a little food. Before you knew it the entire community was called into action to care for these three guys… the Kitten’s showed up to cook breakfast for them and clothing drives and collections were being taken up to make sure they would be okay. Housing arrangements were made so they wouldn’t be relegated to a hotel or couch surfing until they could find a new apartment to live in.
I am amazed at what our community was able to do in such a short period of time… and in almost 13 years of being a pastor it is perhaps my proudest moment.
This is IKON.
Fast forward 6 months. Ben and Krista found that their apartment building had also caught on fire. Fortunately for them they did not lose everything, but their apartment building was condemned and they were forced to move immediately. Ben and Krista were able to find an apartment very quickly, but needed help moving. Enter the IKON community.
Several people showed up on a cold, rainy San Francisco morning to load their things into the moving truck and take it to their new apartment. They helped unload, people brought pizza for lunch and an assortment of other tasty treats, they had a grand old time. It was a beautiful picture of community.
When I asked Ben and Krista how the move went and if they were settled in, Krista said, “Yeah, it was great! Not only did people help unload, but when I turned around everyone was helping us unpack too!” Ben chimed in, “Yeah, we settled in really quickly. In fact, that night we were able to relax and watch a movie.” Now that’s what I’m talking about!
I love the IKON community. I love what God is doing here in this community to draw us closer together to care for one another. I love that we sacrifice our time, our energy, our possessions for one another. I love that we are passionate about loving people and I look forward to the many new faces that will continue to make their way into our community to pursue Jesus and experience the church in beautiful ways.
These are our stories.
This is IKON.
Related posts:
- we’re in… and i’m back!
- The Common!
- when God made me.
- Baptism, the Way to Community
- Launch Community… this is the start of something BIG!
