Thursday, 15 May 2008
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The Homeless...
There's an estimated 1.5 million homeless people in America. Chances are, you probably see a homeless person everyday - on your way to work, walking home, or going to your local restaurant. and homelessness can be so arbitrary - when I was doing a XangaTV streamcast with the rapcore band POD, we went to a local park in a rough part of San Diego. what struck me was when Sonny (the lead singer of the band) was drawn to a homeless man pushing a cart near the park's bathroom. turns out, the homeless man was sonny's neighbor and friend. there sonny was making multiplatinum albums while his friend he grew up with was looking for something to eat. this was reality - the same chances of immense success had the same chances of poverty and homelessness.
I'll admit, it's difficult seeing homeless people - it's easy for our hearts to break. One of the first things I wonder is how they got to where they are....maybe they lost their family, maybe they're suffering from mental illness...or is it drugs? or alcohol? or is it laziness?
that's the thing - the mind wanders from compassion to judgement and it seems like such a fine line...
talking to a few of my christian friends, many choose not to give money when approached by a homeless person. they think that by giving them money, they'll just go out a purchase alcohol or drugs and just fall deeper into their bad habits. my other friends always give - with the argument that they need...and in their humility of asking is something worth rewarding.
i'm torn - i make up artificial rules (if i have singles, if something good happens to me that day and i need to pay it forward, etc...) what challenges me most is this verse from Matthew 25:
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
I think the great thing about this passage is not that these people helped the stranger, the hungry, and everyone else in need...but they did it unknowingly. they didn't do it for the king, or for their friends, or for anyone - but they just did it. i pray that one day i'll be there too.
so how about you? what's your take on the homeless? do you help them? why or why not? and what ways do you help instead?
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Comments (9)
I've ran into my share of homeless people around the nation. I find that giving them money doesn't really help an immediate need of there's. And it's been shown that even a pan-handler in NYC can earn at least $20,000 a year or more (usually more). So, I tend to keep on hand when I'm driving around town some bottled water or something else to give. If I don't have anything on hand, and I'm running errands (which includes going to the grocery store), I would buy a bottled water or a snack bag for them...and give it to them on my way back to the car (or something like that).
There's a scene in 3:10 to Zuma where the railroad man tries to pay-off the hero and excuse himself. The hero suggests that the pay-off wasn't to help him, it was to make the railroad guy feel better about walking away from a difficult situation. I think we do that with poverty/homelessness. Throw 'em a twenty (or a bottled water?) so you can walk away feeling like you've fullfilled a commitment. Or, even worse, justify not doing anything because "they'll just use it for drugs anyway". How about inviting them to live with you for a while?, or maybe that would be too much of a pain in the rear. Good question to post. I'm guilty. But, I'm moving toward the idea that the promise of the ressurection means that we can give more freely of our resources and take more 'risks' in relation to the poorer amoung us.
Sad to say but I don't usually stop when I see a homeless person because I'm afraid at how to approach them and don't know how to speak to them. When I see them on the trains I don''t give them anything because I wonder if they really are going to use it for good. I don't know ... I am just so torn. Once I saw a guy outside macdonald's begging for food, I was going into it so i picked something generic up for him and gave it to him. When I passed back in my car 5 minutes later he was outside there begging again. I wasn't sure if he even ate the food ...
Things like that just completely turn me away because I'm not sure if I'm doing good sometimes.
I know there are those who are in true needs but sometimes I feel like I get taken ...
I work in downtown Phoenix, the heart of the homeless is right there. I do not give them money, because when I worked in Vegas I saw someone who took pity on a homeless person and gave them some extra money because he didn't have enough to purchase a can of pork and beans and a manual can opener. He greatly thanked her, waited for her to leave, turned around and bought alcohol with it.
However, I do feed them. If I have money, I will go to the local fast food place, get them the biggest meal and give it to them. It's not healthy, but it will at least fill their stomach. I also work by the mental hospital, so we have a lot of crazy (no seriously) homeless people. Sometimes if they are near our office, I make a security guard go with me, because I want to feed them, but they are hollering and throwing up fingers to no one...I don't want to put myself in a situation where I am in danger.
my mom lost her job a few years ago and she barely met the rent every month. This is her last one and her landlord found someone else to rent her house and now my mother is being kicked out onto the street.
In the past I have helped her time to time by letting her live with me on and off, by giving her money to whatever she needed because she is my mom. And regardless of what she has done in the past [she has mental problem] I still love her and will always forgive her.
But I have finally drawn the final straw with her. I have two toddlers that I wish to share with her, to give them a gramma, but my mother chose not to be part of our lives and complains she had nothing.
I gave up. And still will hope for the best to whatever she needs. When she told me she is becoming homeless, I shared her a story of Job. Still Job have faith in God when he lost EVERYTHING down to his health. Job was still in love with God and kept faith.
And in the end, Job was reward for his patience and love and faithfullness, that God reward him everything times ten.
I also read one place about a mother who wrote that her son volunterly became homeless. It is his choice because he wanted to be free, it isn't because he had no job, or had drug problem, or even mental illness. He actually graduated from college.
I also think it is all about choice, as well as mistakes that lead people on the street. And I agree with you, I have bug heart for them. And there are so many and there are so much that I could do.
For the last few months I have been donating everything that I long ago stopped using. And frankly with the prices going up and up endlessly, I am scared about how it will end. That someday if I cannot just afford it anymore, I will also be found on the street with growing children.
But I chose to have faith in God.
i never give money but will give food/water if i have it.
If I had to I would sooner give the homeless person water/food rather than given them money.
I have seen people begging in the city centre where I live and other parts of the UK where I have been for the day.
If you truely want to help the homeless, meet them where they are and take them as a human/child of God to a place where they can get some food and pay for it rather than giving them money and maybe they feed a bad habit.
I did a summer of urban missions and soup kitchen work, people do need food and there are alternatives with giving them money. Make food and take it out to homeless people intentionally, if they really need it, they'll take it with gladness, there are some exceptions.
My church has had a hand at helping a few homeless people out of being homeless and back on their feet and off drugs, it's an amazing story of how Jesus can change anyone, including hardened homeless criminals.
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