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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

It takes time

I have worked with the homeless in Norman, OK for two years this January 4th.  During this journey one principle stands out among all others.

It takes time.

I am amazed by and have pity for my culture that assumes programs and machinery are what it will take to bring people out of poverty.  Welfare is not the answer.  Bigger government is not the answer.  Clothes Closets, Food Pantries, Soup Kitchens, Salvation Armies, transition houses, none of these are the answer. In fact, there is no silver bullet, panacea, magic blue pill that I know of.

Just when you want to throw your hands up in the air and say, "Well, what the heck is all this for!?"; I do know this.  While there is no easy answer, the journey towards the solution is paved with committed healthy relationships.

Any program put forth by society or church that does not weigh heavy on long lasting healthy relationships is a failure.  

The fabric of society's future is woven with the everyday choices that promote and cultivate healthy relationships.  Relationships that beat with Christ's heart of love and sacrificial commitment.  His is the highest form of love because he is the example and source of such love.  His Spirit is what lives on in us today and gives us strength and patience, determination and stubbornness, because the journey with broken people towards healing takes time.

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