[topic: homeless dilemma]
my wife and i were on the road this evening on our way to LA. we stopped for gas in bakersfield and came across a woman with a wheelbarrow full of plastic bottles and cans. she also had a sign that read, ‘hungry, please help.’ i didn’t notice the sign until on my way out of the gas station. on our way out i was left with a perplexing question, ‘what can i do?’ i began a conversation about this with my wife on the raod and we couldn’t come to any resolution. so, i pose this question: in the five minutes that i was at the gas station, what could i have done that would have left an impact on this woman? is there anything that we can do in our everyday encounters with people, homeless or not, that will leave a lasting impact on them?
when i wrote that 3 years ago i had no idea that it, along with a couple other things, would ever find their way into a book. three years have passed and still i am no where near an answer.
this afternoon it happened again. as i was driving home i noticed a couple on the side of the road with a sign that read ‘homeless & hungry, will do odd jobs for food.’
i like what jackie wyse says:
life is a seamless garment. when one suffers, we all suffer. when we ignore the suffering around us, we are cutting ourselves off from the essential connections that are an inherent part of how God created this beautifully complex world. your suffering is mine, mine is yours. reaching out to grasp the hand of the other is, in a very real way, also reaching toward our own healing. this is not selfishness (it’s all about me) as much as it is humility (ia am connected and affected and MOVED by all who surround me).
we are a part of a global village.
as i continued driving, the same questions raced through my head. ‘how can i help these people in a way that will explicitly show them the love of Jesus, without “preaching” to them or even coming across as superior to them?’
“i was hungry and you did not feed me, i was thirsty and you didn’t give me a drink, i was a stranger and you didn’t invite me into your home, i was naked and you did not clothe me…when you refused to help the least of these brothers and sisters you were refusing to help me.” these words spoken by Jesus frighten me to the core. how many times have i walked past someone in need and done nothing? how do i really know that they were really even in need? when am i passing jesus by, how do you even know? even jesus turned people away at times…
you can work in all the soup kitchens and food pantries you want, but when faced with an individual on the side of the road, what do you do?
it’s been 3 years and i still am no closer to an answer.
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