Things That Make You Go Hmmmm....

I learned today that the average age of a homeless person in San Antonio is 9 years old...yes, I typed that correctly, 9 years old. On any given day here, there are 4,000 homeless men, women, and children. Of those, 31% are families with children and 70% have been homeless for over a year. Then I thought, 4,000 is probably a small number compared to larger cities (i.e. New York, Atlanta, Chicago, etc.), and that gave me hope. I recently read two books that have changed even further the degree to which I view every person in my life as Jesus (in the sense that, I would do anything for Jesus, and He commands me to love Him first and then love others as myself...so if I would do anything for Him, why can't I love others in that same way?). The books, "Same Kind of Different as Me" and it's follow up "What Difference do it Make?" were written by the same authors, Denver Moore and Ron Hall. If you haven't read them, please do, their story is amazing and very challenging.

In the second book, Denver talks a lot about being homeless and gives a lot of insight into what we, as Christians should be doing to really help the homeless. It made me realize that, while these people need physical resources such as food, clothing, shelter, etc., they also need Jesus. They need to know that Jesus loves them. And you know how they're going to know that? When we show them. Giving the way Jesus commands us to is about more than just writing out a check on Sundays and trusting that your elders will give it to the right missions. While this is good, and necessary, it cannot be our only act of giving to others. Jesus demands our time, our presence, our hearts more than our money. I don't have a lot of money to spend, most of you know that I was laid off last year and while I'm still drawing unemployment, it's not like we can afford anything we want, yet God provides. But I can give myself, I can do more than just roll down my window and toss out a few dollars to someone and roll the window back up again before the chilly air outside hits me.

A few weeks ago, the kids and I were going somewhere (probably WalMart) and stopped at an intersection. A man was there holding a sign that said he really wanted a cheeseburger and a job. I had some extra cash so I rolled down the window and let Timothy hand it to him (he LOVES to help!). I asked the man his name and he told me I could just call him Mr. Priest. He's an african american man, and older, probably in his 40's or 50's. I told him I would pray for him and he said that he would pray for Timothy, that he would grow to know what's really important in life. I drove away crying. Today, as we drove home from lunch, I saw him again. The kids and I circled around until we ended up at his side of the intersection and I rolled down the window and handed him a bag of blessings (socks, an emergency blanket, hand warmers, water, food, chapstick, etc.) and told him I remembered him, that his name was Mr. Priest and that I had been praying for him. He told me that God had heard my prayers because He's been keeping him warm the past few nights! I asked him what else he needed, what else I could bring him and he told me all he needed was prayers for a new job. I told him I would get right on that, and then he asked me where he could come and worship with me (praise God!) so I told him the name of our church and he said he knew right where it is!

I am praying every day for this man. He has touched my heart and I pray that God will bless him with a job. I don't know if he has any family, but I pray that God will help them and keep them warm this winter. I hope he is able to come to church, I forgot to ask him what kind of work he does, but I'm sure there's someone there that can help him. Isn't that how this is supposed to work? We're supposed to take care of each other, because God has blessed us beyond what we could ever imagine. Do you think that maybe, if we all chipped in our time and our love, that we could change this world? Even if it's one person at a time, it can happen, right? In "Crazy Love", the author writes that God is all-powerful, and even though we waste our time asking Him why so many people are dying of starvation, He has more of a right to ask us that same question.

I didn't mean for this to be preachy, these are just things that have been on my mind lately and I know this is my first post of the year and I promise that I'll follow up with a family update and pictures, but this is where my heart is this year, and this is what I'm going to focus on this year. I hope that God continues to bless you and your family, and I hope that you continue to show His love to everyone (EVERYONE!!) that you meet!