Don't believe the lie!







 

 Last Friday, we made a few lunches for our friends on the streets and went to pass them out. The weather was so beautiful outside. It was warm and the sun was bright. Just a kind of day that makes you feel good. As we packed up the lunches and loaded them in the car we were full of excitement on who we were going to see today. We have built some relationships with some of the people on the streets and were hoping to see some of them today. Hoping to see is a weird thing to say. Your really not hoping to see them, what you are hoping for is that they are off the streets and getting the help they need. But if that has not happened then you are hoping that you can find them and catch up a little. You want to see how they are doing and try to meet a need.

As we drove around it was the strangest thing. We saw no one. We hit up all of the normal spots. We were thinking we would only be gone an hour but after an hour we had only seen a few people. My Mom actually came with us to help and I remember telling her to be ready at a certain time because we needed to get the meals out at lunch time. Any other time we had ever been out the need was usually greater than the resources we had. It was the strangest feeling. Where is everyone I thought? Where have they all gone?

Eventually, we started to see a couple people here and there. What we came to find was since the weather was so nice they were doing other things. They walking farther than normal, they were sleeping in the park on a bench or in the grass under the blanket of the warm sun; they were traveling to the food pantry for lunch. I remember thinking what are we going to do with this food? We have been out for over two hours. Two hours was starting to feel like a very long time. I felt as if we were driving in circles. That is when I got convicted by the Lord. Why was it that I had turned serving the homeless into something all about me? Wasn't I glad that we weren't seeing anyone? Shouldn't I be happy that maybe the reason they weren't around was because they were getting a need met somewhere else. My patience was wearing thin because it was taking so long, I was getting tired of driving around, there were a few other things I had planned to do that day and I was wondering if I would have time. Why had it been about me? 

I realized that I was only giving what I could spare. I could spare an hour or so in the middle of the day but not much longer. Instead of thinking about what I could spare I should have been thinking about what it was going to take? What is it going to take to meet a need, what is it going to take help someone, what is it going to take to change a life, what is it going to take the serve the Lord? I know I can't single-handedly alleviate homelessness but I don't want to believe the lie that since I can't do everything, I'm not going to do anything.

We did however see a few familiar faces. Our friend Tim told us that another man we had met before, Whiskey was his name, had been taken to Kansas for treatment. Someone cared enough to pick him up and help him not because it was what they could spare but because that’s what it was going to take. I don’t know what Whiskey’s future holds he may be back on the streets soon but I pray not. God showed me a lot last Friday, not so much about the homeless but more about myself. We all have blind-spots and I'm thankful that God showed me one of mine.

What about you? Are you believing the lie? Are you not doing anything because you feel the need is too
great or are you like me and you are only giving what you can spare instead of what it's going to take? I encourage you to step out and give. Give of your time, trust me the time lost will be restored in so many ways.

Loving you all like crazy!
Edie