And of Some Having Compassion...

“Just saw a street corner begger go "off-shift", grab his duffle bag, and check into a hotel. Free cable.”

This post, made by a former Sunday School teacher of mine on Facebook, really irritated me and prompted me to, not only respond, but to do a little bit of soul searching as to the reason for my irritation. Especially since I know a few months ago my reaction would have probably been very similar.

I've always viewed those that are homeless as dirty, lazy, drunk(at best) drug addicts mooching off of the taxpayers hard earned dollars, trying to get a hand-out from anyone they could swindle out of a few dollars. I had never said it in so many words and therefore never realized how absurd and foolish that statement was.

It all started a few months ago, right before Christmas, we had a light snow, and Mysia and I had gone to Wal-mart for something, I can't remember now what it was, but on our way out of the parking lot, Mysia noticed a man sitting on an overturned shopping cart holding a cardboard sign. Since she has been learning to read she is curious whenever she sees anything with writing on it, so she asked me what it said, when I told her, trying to down play it and just keep going, she was devastated and wanted me to stop and give him some money I tried to explain that I didn't have any cash on me and that we don't just give out money to people on the street because we don't know what they might spend it on. Even as I said the words I realized how un-Christian it sounded, and James 2:14-17 popped into my head, but I wasn't ready to admit I was wrong. And in spite of my little girl seeing right through my hypocrisy and trying to point out that Jesus would want us to help him, I kept going. Hoping that once she was away from it she would forget all about it and we could go on with our lives. However, my little girl did not forget, she kept talking and planning how she was going to save her allowance and give it to this poor man who must have lost his job. As soon as daddy came home she told him all about it begging to be allowed to go back and help him, but I knew he was gone and finally convinced her to forget about him, for the time being. I felt guilty, I knew I shouldn't be squelching her generous spirit and should be using this opportunity to help her grow. But I didn't want to inconvenience myself and I most certainly didn't want my little girl anywhere near that creepy, dirty, old man. In spite of my foolishness God gave me another chance to right the wrong that I was doing. For that night right after I put dinner in the oven our power went out and because it was Wednesday night and we needed to eat so we could go to church. So we ran to McDonald's and who should we see but what appeared to be the same man Mysia and I had seen outside of Wal-mart. I'm ashamed to say that I did not take advantage of the opportunity that God had placed in my lap but only prayed that my daughter wouldn't recognize him and insist that we do something for him, she didn't, and we ate our meal and left.

A few other things stirred my conscience over the next few weeks, about how selfish and self absorbed I was being; a simple conversation about Christmas gifts with my sister-in-law, a book I was reading, and a volunteer opportunity I grudgingly participated in all spoke to me of my selfishness.

With all this on my mind I walked into my first class on Wednesday morning, Sophomore Seminar - Service Learning, I don't know what I was expecting but finding out that I was going to have to find 4 more hours in my week so that I could volunteer at one of the organizations on the teacher's list was not it. I was not happy! As the various organizations came to our class and told us about what they were doing I began to open my mind a little bit to the possibilities.

At first, due to the time constraints placed on me through my job I thought that I was going to have to volunteer at Rare Breed - an outreach program that works with our city's homeless or at risk youth. I even finished the orientation and spent one night observing, it was really hard. These kids were kids like any other kids, several of them reminded me of my little brother, but the difference was they didn't have anywhere to go at the end of the night. As I walked to my car that night, nervous about being down town so late at night trying not to slip on the ice and feeling the bite of the wind I was reminded that some of those young people would be out all night in this horrid weather and it broke my heart. Over the next several days every time I had to go out in the biting cold as I hurried from one building to another or shivered as I waited for the heater in my car to warm up I thought of those kids and prayed that they would find shelter somewhere warm.

Some how that one encounter made it personal to me, homelessness wasn't an issue that happened to other people in big cities, it happened right here in my home town. Were some of those kids on the street due to poor decision making? Probably. Were some of them there through no fault of their own? Absolutely! Did the ones who made mistakes not deserve help simply because they had made poor choices? NO! And then the thought struck me it was the same for the homeless adults there were those that were there because of some really bad choices and there were those that were there because life had happened and they weren't prepared.

At the same time I knew several good people who, due to the economy and maybe even some bad choices, were with out work and wondering where they were going to get the money to pay the bills. These were people who were close to me, friends and family, who had lost their job, gotten divorced, had an illness or injury strike their family. I suddenly saw how hypocritical I was being, if it was my friend or family member I would want someone to help them and not turn them away simply because they may have made a poor choice (or two or three) along the way.And when later that week I suddenly got let go from my job, and realized how easy it was to slip from a comfortable living to a very tight and uncomfortable living. At least I had a husband who, though he wasn't happy with his job at least still had one and though my paycheck would be missed it wasn't like we would lose our house or go hungry because of it. Finally God had my attention I was listening now.

So when I saw this post on Facebook it was like a slap in the face. I was angry and ashamed, as much at myself and my own attitude, as my friend's. All of those missed opportunities and sarcastic remarks were staring me in the face, and I saw my own selfish attitude staring up at me from the page. I began to think about Jesus and the people he ministered to, they weren't rich, they weren't clean, and they certainly weren't religious. Jesus was a friend of the sinners and outcasts from society. He had compassion on them for they were as sheep with out a shepherd were some of those people there simply to get more free bread from Him? Yep. Did that stop him from reaching out to people? Nope. Somehow we Christians manage to forget that aspect of Jesus ministry. We have become just like the Pharisees, making sure we look just right when we go to church, attending church every time the door is open, giving our tithe and missions, and judging others because they aren't like us, because they have made mistakes and looking down our noses at them and thanking God that we aren't like them! For shame Christian!!! Just because someone makes poor choices that does not excuse us from reaching out and helping them and sharing the Love of Christ with them. The whole second Chapter in James tells us that we are not to treat the poor any differently from the rich when they come into the house of God and that we live out our faith through our works (2:14-17) and those works include taking care of the poor and needy, those who are naked and without food. What does Jesus tell us about the poor and how we are to treat them. Matthew 25 tells us exactly what he said "in as much as ye a have done it unto the lest of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me"! That thought made me want to cry as I have treated them so I have treated my LORD! That man that I ignored was an opportunity not only to help him and meet a need that he had but it was also an opportunity for me to pour love out on my Savior and I ignored it and by ignoring him it was the very same as ignoring Jesus. I still have 9 weeks left of this course and I will be finishing my community work in The Kitchen - Annex, I hope that I can keep that thought in mind as I work with these homeless men and women, how I treat them is how I treat my LORD, as well as this verse from the book of Jude "and some having compassion, making a difference." Who's life will you make a difference in today?