I bundled up in my warm winter jacket and prepared to go out into the heavy rain that I watched drip down my windows. The long bus ride to work would soon become a reality. At first I stood at the bus stop impatient and annoyed that I was getting wet, but as I looked around and reflected on God's ability to make something like rain, despised and unwanted, beautiful, my mind drifted elsewhere.
I got off at the usual spot, underneath an overpass by the main highway and walked toward my destination. I smiled at the men who had set up camp under the shelter there and talked with them as they remarked about the weather. My heart broke for them. Here I was in a warm jacket with a place to go and they had nowhere. I wanted so badly to take my Starbucks card and run over to Safeway and buy them each a hot chocolate. My bus was scheduled to come in 5 min and I was already gonna be late for work so I didn't, but I promised myself to do it in the week ahead of me.
I'm sure that so many people have walked to the bus stop just as I have and ignored them. These men are probably so used to it that it doesn't even hurt anymore.
My friend and also coworker and I briefly talked a little about why people grow closer to God in the midst of adversity this evening. He mentioned something like "I'm so full of emotion and fired up that I can actually feel something, that I call out to God even more..". The hurt and emotion these homeless people have is so buried that is barely recognizable anymore. It has been there for so long that they just get used to it, and it becomes the sad but distant background music of their lives.
Once I was on the bus I watched the people as they got on. This one woman stood near the front and pulled out a lighter, a syringe and some other things and placed them on the seat. She injected right there on the bus, the children in front of me as witnesses. Though appalled at first, God reminded me of his heart for her and the pain that he was enduring to see his own child do this.
I used to help out at a homeless shelter in the depths of the Vancouver Eastside. Although I only got to go a few times, I learned so much, wisdom that will never leave me. This one man that I sat with pulled out a wrinkled picture of his daughter and looked at it with adoration. He told me he wished more than anything that he could see her more. His job was paying him minimum wage but he was saving up to buy her a bike for her birthday. Talk about sacrifice! This one man taught me two things 1.) Our family is priceless 2.) Why is it that those who have lost it all are willing to give anything to those important to them whereas those who have all they need struggle to give even a little?
Another woman I talked to told me about how she had everything, a loving family, a home to live in, a school to go to but yet when she started smoking marijuana in high school all of that was taken away from her..She had gone to law school for 2 years, dreaming of the day when she would become a law secretary but because of her criminal record due to her addiction, her chance was thrown away. She has two girls whom she is not allowed to see but imagines everyday the time when she might get to see them again. This one woman taught me three things 1.) Hope is never lost 2.) We can learn so much from others mistakes 3.) We take so much for granted
Freedom is available to all in Jesus Christ. His grace washes away our history, our past our mistakes, like the rain as it revives creation.
We have been called to help those who we sometimes see as helpless. We are all broken, we are all ashamed, no one is beyond the grips of our sovereign God.
We are so BLIND people! We are so BLESSED! We are CALLED to bring Gods hope to the hopeless, make known his love for the unloved, and proclaim the freedom we have been given through his sacrifice!
Put aside your fears and doubts and worries, the contempt this world tells us to feel for those who are less fortunate. Even a smile can bring happiness to those who feel like they have been isolated from the world in which they live. Dont walk by with your head down! A small sacrifice on our part can make the biggest difference.
Isaiah 61 - 1,2
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a] 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn"
Break my heart from what breaks yours, Everything I am for your kingdoms cause, As I go from nothing to Eternity.
Tess-tify
I got off at the usual spot, underneath an overpass by the main highway and walked toward my destination. I smiled at the men who had set up camp under the shelter there and talked with them as they remarked about the weather. My heart broke for them. Here I was in a warm jacket with a place to go and they had nowhere. I wanted so badly to take my Starbucks card and run over to Safeway and buy them each a hot chocolate. My bus was scheduled to come in 5 min and I was already gonna be late for work so I didn't, but I promised myself to do it in the week ahead of me.
I'm sure that so many people have walked to the bus stop just as I have and ignored them. These men are probably so used to it that it doesn't even hurt anymore.
My friend and also coworker and I briefly talked a little about why people grow closer to God in the midst of adversity this evening. He mentioned something like "I'm so full of emotion and fired up that I can actually feel something, that I call out to God even more..". The hurt and emotion these homeless people have is so buried that is barely recognizable anymore. It has been there for so long that they just get used to it, and it becomes the sad but distant background music of their lives.
Once I was on the bus I watched the people as they got on. This one woman stood near the front and pulled out a lighter, a syringe and some other things and placed them on the seat. She injected right there on the bus, the children in front of me as witnesses. Though appalled at first, God reminded me of his heart for her and the pain that he was enduring to see his own child do this.
I used to help out at a homeless shelter in the depths of the Vancouver Eastside. Although I only got to go a few times, I learned so much, wisdom that will never leave me. This one man that I sat with pulled out a wrinkled picture of his daughter and looked at it with adoration. He told me he wished more than anything that he could see her more. His job was paying him minimum wage but he was saving up to buy her a bike for her birthday. Talk about sacrifice! This one man taught me two things 1.) Our family is priceless 2.) Why is it that those who have lost it all are willing to give anything to those important to them whereas those who have all they need struggle to give even a little?
Another woman I talked to told me about how she had everything, a loving family, a home to live in, a school to go to but yet when she started smoking marijuana in high school all of that was taken away from her..She had gone to law school for 2 years, dreaming of the day when she would become a law secretary but because of her criminal record due to her addiction, her chance was thrown away. She has two girls whom she is not allowed to see but imagines everyday the time when she might get to see them again. This one woman taught me three things 1.) Hope is never lost 2.) We can learn so much from others mistakes 3.) We take so much for granted
Freedom is available to all in Jesus Christ. His grace washes away our history, our past our mistakes, like the rain as it revives creation.
We have been called to help those who we sometimes see as helpless. We are all broken, we are all ashamed, no one is beyond the grips of our sovereign God.
We are so BLIND people! We are so BLESSED! We are CALLED to bring Gods hope to the hopeless, make known his love for the unloved, and proclaim the freedom we have been given through his sacrifice!
Put aside your fears and doubts and worries, the contempt this world tells us to feel for those who are less fortunate. Even a smile can bring happiness to those who feel like they have been isolated from the world in which they live. Dont walk by with your head down! A small sacrifice on our part can make the biggest difference.
Isaiah 61 - 1,2
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a] 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn"
Break my heart from what breaks yours, Everything I am for your kingdoms cause, As I go from nothing to Eternity.
Tess-tify
