Homeless PEOPLE

My church met at a homeless shelter this morning. We hosted a vision clinic and handed out prescription eyewear to over 150 people. We cut hair of, doctored and washed the feet of the homeless people. We also played games with them and had cornhole tournaments outside where the folks were waiting for their eye screenings.

My experience this morning involved hanging out with a lot of rough people. It made me think a lot about Jesus... and how He was probably one who hung out with some rough crowds.

I usually put myself in safe crowds. In fact, I have already brought myself back into my comfortable world, sitting in Panera's, listening to folk music on my MacBook and eating my bagel. My feet are even propped up on the booth seat facing me. It really is nice. I just wonder a lot if nice is really not what God had in mind for the life of a believer. I am safe, comfortable and living in really nice conditions.

I think that God is calling me OUT... calling US OUT, not IN to life following the American dream of safety, wealth, reputation, comfort and accumulation of possessions. If we really want to be Christ-followers, we should follow Christ OUT to meet the needs of HIS people... which oftentimes is not in a nice place and possibly involves some rough crowds.

I think that following Christ means loving people... and also that loving people is a way of loving God. (Matthew 25:37-40--Read it.) Earlier, I referred to the shelter that I went to this morning as one that served homeless PEOPLE. Before I went this morning, I simply called them the homeless, almost like they were another species. However, after spending some time with them, high-fiving them, making jokes and telling stories all morning, I began to see that they were people, people that need love just as much as anyone. They want to be known, be cared for, be joked with and be hugged, just like me. And they want to be in a relationship with people who love them, not just people who spend a morning reaching out.

At 6:30 this morning, on my way out to the shelter, I prayed for the eyes of Christ. He must have seen people differently than me. He touched the lepers, cared for the blind and visited with the tax collectors. What if I looked at people as PEOPLE, images of God, rather than homeless, poor, sick, orphaned or hopeless? What if we escaped from our comfort zones to know and love people who Jesus loved, people who are beyond our arms' reach? What if we carried hope rather than destroyed it by the way we love?

What if?

Starbucks

I work at Starbucks. I really like it there. The atmosphere is perfect for hanging out with friends, getting some work done or grabbing a latte to go. One of the most fascinating things I have encountered during my time at Starbucks is the world of the "regulars," even at the drive thru:

"Hey there, Michelle! Is Lee with you today? Oh, alright... well, I'll have your tall, 3-pump mocha, 4-pump toffee nut, whole milk, with whip, extra hot, with extra toffee sprinkles mocha ready for you at the window. Actually, Katie is already working on it. Would you like your vanilla bean scone today, too? Sounds great. Well, you know the total... come on around."

Michelle approaches the drive thru window, hands the barista the money, takes her drink and scone and reaches out her hand to grab her plastic spoon she used to have to request each time so she could eat her whipped cream off the top like ice cream. She goes to school to teach for rest of her day, Starbucks cup on her desk, reminding her of her experience she had that morning and will have the next.

At Starbucks, Michelle is known. Her SUV has only to pull into the parking lot for someone to call out, "We're going to need a 'Michelle' at the drive thru."

People BECOME their drinks. Seriously, an identity is found in everything from a "grande bold no room for cream" to a "Michelle." People NEED to be known. And, they pay $4.61 a day for it... an expensive cup of caffeine, but a small price to pay for being known and loved.

In my opinion, that is one reason why Starbucks has done so well. Enough options are offered for people to find their identity in their cup and for their presence to be remembered at their local store. It is one thing that the average American can control completely and get a little java boost while doing so.

It's all pretty remarkable, isn't it? Psalm 139:1 says, "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me." I won't type it here, but go read the rest of the psalm. It makes a remarkable regular at Starbucks pale in comparison to the comfort found in knowing that God "knit [us] together in [our] mother's womb" (Psalm 139:13) and that His "works are wonderful" (Psalm 130:14). HE knows us. HE knows our pasts, our thoughts, our hearts and every little thing about us that no one else has cared to find out. And, He loves us anyways...

1 John 3:1

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

I love that.

Why?

Why do we, after experiencing the undying, unconditional, unchanging love of our Lord, live a life unchanged by Christ's greatest sacrifice? I'm not sure. I began this online journaling endeavor a couple months ago (I refuse to think of myself as one who "blogs.") and kind of forgot that I had started it. Tonight, though, I began thinking about how deep the human being's need to be known is and it made me think about how I could allow others to know me and myself to be known, possibly through this journal. I thought about my own need to be known and how one time I read a quote, "To read is to know you are not alone." (I could have butchered that quote and have no idea who said it except to say it wasn't me.) The need to be known and the need to not be alone are needs that every one of us is in a desperate search to fulfill. Maybe through this journal of mine, you'll know that you are not alone.

Really, think about it. We cannot be LOVED unless we are KNOWN. And, we cannot be KNOWN unless someone spends time with us, listens to our words and dives into our hearts. So, I have created this online journaling endeavor. Hopefully, it will allow all of my readers, probably just my dedicated and loyal brother... Hey, Lee :) ...to know that they are not alone, that someone else might think like them, need like them, live like them and learn about and experience Love like them. It will allow me to search my own heart, learn how it should be changed by Love and probably experience a great journey on the way. That's probably a slightly optimistic hope for this endeavor, but we'll see. Feel free to comment on anything. I'd love to hear what you have to say so I can know... and love... you, too.