by: Arlee Riggs (Harbor Church Intern)

I've only been living in Portsmouth, NH for about two months, but already I can see what a diverse city this is. It is overflowing with talent, art, good food and wine, great shopping and beautiful scenery. It’s a very unique place, and it’s filled with unique and wonderful people to make it this way.

Portsmouth is very different from my home town in Missouri, one of the reasons would be the homeless population. Sure, there are disadvantaged people in Missouri, but it’s difficult to get to know them or even see them on a daily basis unless you work or live in a certain part of town. As part of my internship at Harbor Church, I was invited to help serve with the Community Table lunchtimes on Saturdays in downtown Portsmouth, right in the heart of the city. Here, there are always people around and sharing a meal with someone is a great way to make a friend, so I’ve had the opportunity to meet many interesting people. Some of them just need a hot meal, some live in a shelter, others are completely homeless and sleep on streets, park benches or in the woods. All of them are different and it’s been wonderful getting to know them. Listening to their stories and learning about their lives has changed the way I think about my own.

Recently I’ve been reading a series of blogs by Nigel Ring called “The Poor deserve the Best,” and it’s challenged me to change the way I think about people that are in different situations than myself. In his first blog Nigel talks about how the things we do should be motivated in a similar way to how God does things - with love. He wrote,“God’s love believes for the best and looks to see each person reach the potential for which he or she was created.” I think this is so true, because God created each of us individually and we’ve all made mistakes. Yet God longs for us to be restored to Him, regardless of our situations, because he loves us. I hope that as I continue to get involved with Harbor and meet more people in Portsmouth I can show them this same kind of love and encourage them to have hope in a God that loves them.

You can read Nigel's blogs by clicking here.