food for thought

i started reading a new book yesterday. yes, a book for fun, during the school year! it's not a long book though, a short daily devotional actually, which, i think is fun.

it's called "Under the Overpass," and is a true story- one guy's journey about God calling him to become homeless for 30 days. he was only a sophomore in college, sent his belongings home, and with one friend hit the streets, beginning in DC.

i've only read about 10 pages of the book so far, but i already know it's going to hit me hard. ever since i became a Christian, God has really broken my heart for the homeless, over and over again. i think everyone feels some emotion when they broach the subject, but i definitely feel called to do something about it, rather than just idealize.

the first time my heart was seriously broken (other than high school soup kitchens, and the like) was when i went on my Alternative Student Break trip my sophomore year of college. myself and about 8 others worked with the homeless for a week in immokalee, florida. we stayed in the homeless shelter (in their thrift shop) on cots, cooked meals, packed lunches, read to the children and cleaned once everyone was in bed. when we weren't at the shelter in the mornings and evenings, we were at a school about a mile away tutoring the children of migrant farm workers, (who were mostly homeless) at high risk for juvenile delinquency. God broke my heart once again my senior year of college when i did a short mission trip on the west side of Chicago. i worked at an after school program with young kids, most homeless and most victims of domestic violence.

this morning as i walked to the white house for our white house garden tour, we got to the top of the escalators at the metro, and there were 5 or 6 men sleeping outside, on the concrete. they were dirty, they smelled, they looked cold, and they looked hungry. every time i see this i have an internal dilemma..how do i, as a Christian woman, respond to this?

-do i give them money, knowing that 50% of the homeless have serious dependency problems on alcohol and drugs?
-do i offer to go buy them a meal?
-do i direct them to a local shelter where they will hopefully be more enabled to pull themselves out of their situation?
-do i sit down and pray with them?
-do i silently pray in my head, hoping that the next person who comes along will be braver than i am and do something about it?
-or do i walk by, try not to make eye contact, and try to put the guilt of the blessings i have in my life, out of my mind?

i know which of these i currently do, and i know that i shouldn't have to ask myself what to do. i shouldn't be conflicted, i should be convicted. i know that God wants me to be doing more, to be showing these people love like He would have been doing. Jesus wouldn't have walked by these people. Jesus lived among these people. He had no place to lay his head down at night, so why do i so often think- i'm so glad that's not me, or i deserve what i have, or i haven't made those mistakes? Lord, humble me and help me to love like You do.

....food for thought. how do you respond? how are you going to change?