"Do you know any homeless people?, Jonathan asked, taking a break from holding my hands and running up my legs, stomach, and chest before kicking his feet over his head, flipping backwards, landing solidly back on his feet. "Why, yes I do! I just talked to them yesterday!"
This week I have been reminded of the simple, yet profound truth that when we meet someone and share our life with theirs, we change: our perspectives change, our stereotypes change, and our ideas about truth and reality change! People want to be known. People want to be needed. The combination of those two ideas creates a perfect relationship - we can give of ourselves in time and resources to help those who need to be loved and touched.
Before this week I could not have said that I know a homeless person, yet I have stepped over or around so many of them. No, I'm not perfect. Yesterday, I still felt those same feelings of fear when I had the opportunity to meet someone in at Olympic Park whom I assumed was homeless. However, when we turned the corner I saw two guys we had met the day before. We had spent time with these guys, heard their stories, and connected on some mystical level. It was really a joy to see then and to hear the progress they had made that day in their quests towards getting "out of the system," out of the shelters, and back on their feet. Several in our group went to see these two guys this morning after we learned where they were going to be. Lives touching lives through the love of Jesus - that is the best answer I have found to most of the justice problems we saw this weekend.
"Everyone has a name: everyone has a story", remarked one of our students after a day of getting to know guests at one of the social agencies with which we worked. That says it all. For our group they are not "homeless" anymore - they are Samuel, John, Horis, Carlos, and many others - men, women and children - all who have names and stories!
1 comment:
I completely know what you mean. This is an odyssey that Jen and I have been on this whole year. I gave one of the 16 year olds in our youth group Shane Claiborne's book--it had pretty well wrecked me and it did the same to him. We started going downtown and he began spending all his extra money on socks and deodorant, mountain dew and bottled water.
We go and hang out with Tim, Norville, Dominique and Jerry byt the old World of Coke and Underground. There's a really good line Claiborne has--"my activist friends always ask me why I'm so nice to rich people. I tell them that when the rich meet the poor, poverty won't be an issue."
I normally tell folks that Jesus is slowly wrecking my life, and it's meant and continues to mean some pretty significant changes for the way Jen and I live. I can only say I hope he keeps doing it to you guys too :)
If you get a minute, look up a song called "Gabriel and the Vagabond" on iTunes by a brilliant Irish artist named Foy Vance. It's the gospel in song.
great blog Nathan.
grace and peace,
trey lyon
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