In The Meantime

Imagine for a minute. You are a 32 year old married mother of 3. You rent a house. Well actually you rent a room about the size of a western bathroom. The five of you live in this room. Your rent is barely affordable but you have some employment and you make it work. But now, given this room's proximity to the lucrative red light area, your landlord wants to charge daily brothel rates, which will mean making rent payments completely out of your reach. Also your relationship with the landlord is not the best. Your huband is frequently out of town for work and your landlord takes the chance to assault you. Black eyes are not infrequent.

What would you do? Well probably for most of you reading this, you would never have rented such a small space in the first place. You would have a 3 or 4 bedroom house, 1 or 2 bathrooms. And what? Your landlord hits you?? You would have him charged with assault and move house while you wait for justice from the police and court sytems.

But this is the story of a woman I have come to know. For her, the options are much less. Poverty it is said, is not just lack of food, clothing and material goods, but a lack of choice. She cannot choose to just leave. Her situation is horrid, but it is better than this family living on the streets. Rooms are hard to come by and particularly in this area, rent is expensive. She is looking hard, and prayerfully she will find a safe, affordable home for her family. And in the meantime she is vulnerable to a male landlord who by virtue of his gender and improved financial position, holds the power.

'In the meantime'. So many people living 'in the meantime' here. The space between the already and not yet. And while we wait for restoration and redemption, the meantime people continue to suffer. Their situations become dire.  Who can imagine a landlord having such physical and emotional power over us? For those of us who have choices, it is so foreign.

Yet, two days ago for another lady in this same area, the meantime became too long. After a fight with her landlord, she consumed enough alcohol to become drunk, doused herself in kerosene and set fire to herself. She leaves behind 2 daughters, the oldest of whom is 12.

And in the meantime, because of the hope we have been given, because of the light we continue to glimpse, we continue to pray. Come, Lord Jesus.