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?