We Are All Homeless

I was scrolling through Facebook one night, when I came across the status of a friend:

"Everyday I drive under the Webster Ave. overpass on my way to work.
There are several homeless people that live under there, and have a pretty elaborate
set-up between the pillars that support the highway overhead...

Mattresses, clothing, stuffed animals, food, pictures.

Today as I was driving home from work, I notice a garbage truck stopped under the overpass,
and the garbage men were throwing these people’s every earthly possession into the back of the truck.

So today, in light of all of the disaster and turmoil on this Earth, while I am immensely grateful
for all that I have, I am profoundly disturbed by our attitude towards those who have so little.
Because really, at the end of the day...

we are just all people trying to find somewhere to put our stuff."


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They reach out to us on the street corners, and wave us down in our cars.Wind chapped faces, gloves worn through by the blows that life deals, their eyesbrightly shining - framed by smudgy skin. Just another human, another beating heart.
I've seen their faces. I've heard their stories. I know how easily any of us could findourselves with a cardboard sign and grocery cart - peddling away our sacred human dignityat any given intersection, overpass, or shelter.
Most that I've met, confess to struggling with addictions. Alcohol. Drugs.Some have been disabled. Mentally challenged. Abandoned by family. I've eaten dinneron the curb with some who used to have corporate jobs, spouses, children. And they wouldgive anything, anything to have a "do over" - to be given another chance to make a different choice.
And so we give grace, forgiveness, mercy. We meet them where they are at.Why? Because in the end, we are ALL homeless. This world is not our home...and like my Facebook friend shared, we are all just looking for a place to put our stuff.
"For here we do not have an enduring city,but we are looking for the city that is to come."- Hebrews 13:14

This season, our family decided to put together WARMTH PACKAGESfor the homeless, hungry, out-of-work men and women we see all the time - begging, hopeful.A small gesture, pennies really - trying to buy back some comfort or evoke somefeelings of LOVE, PEACE, JOY for our friends on the streets.
Such a simple project, but one that our kids were thrilled to help with.They are very eager to give away the granola bars that they so desperately wanted to eat.

clean, folded sockschapstickshampoodeodorantheat packs for gloves or bootswaterready-to-eat soupcrackersgranola bara personal note of encouragement with art by our toddlers$5 gift card to McDonalds
We wanted to include a gift card so that they would have the opportunity tobuy something, to be a customer, and therefore be granted the right to sit, to stayinside of a public facility until they have warmed up or dodged the rain.
Most public places chase them out in the name of honoring their current guests -the ones who have PAID, who have earned the privilege of sipping coffee in a booth.
Things we take for granted.
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"But our citizenship is in heaven."- Philippians 3:20