It was FBC's turn to serve lunch at a local "soup kitchen". I met the volunteers down there around 11am. As I approached the location on foot, I recognized several of the homeless guys standing out front. I stopped to have a smoke with them (and by "smoke" I mean small talk and smoke from the second hand). After the initial pleasantries, I began to feel included as "one of the guys".
Let me tell you some key signs that you have been accepted in this way. First, when a homeless man offers you a cigarette (I repeat, a homeless man). Second, when they speak candidly in front of you about how upset they were that they had been thrown in jail for the last week. And third, when one of them asks you, specifically you, to help him go over to the 65 year drunk-as-a-skunk old man sitting against the fence and get him up into the building where he can get warm and fed.
Man, we all have stereotypes don't we? No one is immune to that disease. I was offered a sacrificial portion of this man's comfort (in the form of a cigarette). I was allowed to be one of two people that picked an old man up off his sleeping bag and through the fumes of cheap alcohol found him a seat and a plate of food.
I think there is a lot more good out there than fear will allow us to see.
Oh man Joey. You are so right...they are welcoming you in. I can't tell you how excited I am about your ministry. Thanks for showing us all what it is to be a follower of Christ. How come we spend so much time learning about how to be more like Christ and so little time ACTUALLY DOING IT????? Love ya! Hope to see you soon!
ReplyDeletejoey, good to hear. i have (over the last 5 years) had my world rocked when it comes to homelessness. there is so much that we can do, as christians, or just as people believing in justice, to show kindness, love, and acceptance to people who live on the streets. glad you got to have a smoke today....
ReplyDeleteTracy