I love the homeless...

One thing I have noticed since moving out here to Colorado Springs is that there is not a very large population of the homeless. Coming from Nashville and St. Auggie, FL before that, homelessness has ALWAYS been pretty prominent. My dad, who I adore, has taught my brother and I to always love these people well. Yes, some of them do CHOOSE to not work, which is very frustrating....but an even larger percentage don't really have a choice. Medical and mental conditions leave these people with no hope of even McDonald's hiring them. The medicines that could help them are far too expensive to afford. So they turn to begging for money. They turn to getting what they can from the unfortunate trend among the homeless...drugs and alcohol. They want an out to how they feel and just like any other rich man for that matter, these "addictions" seem to numb the pain for a little while.

Today, I ran across one. Actually many. They were all gathered outside the Starbucks that I go to a couple times a week. They were all talking to each other about putting their money together to get some coffee and bagels. One had about $4, another $0.50 and the rest probably had a total of $2 all together. There was about 8 of them. Through pooling their money together, they figured out they could buy 2 large cups of coffee and 4 bagels. Not enough for 8 people.

I watched as people passed them by and just stared. I watched them try to ask the passers by for change and no one even looked their way. They were frustrated...and so was I for them.

Going back to the homeless woman who had the $4...she had been saving that money to buy her favorite drink. How do I know, well she said it in the beginning. She said " well i have $4, but I really wanted to buy a Carmel flapaccino with it (yes she called it a flapaccino)....but I would rather none of you go hungry since we all haven't eaten in days." Now, I don't know if that strikes a nerve in you or what....but here is this homeless woman....who has $4 to her name, while passers by could have hundreds, thousands or even millions...and she is giving HER money to buy her friends food. That picture just really struck me. I was mad.

Every fiber in me wanted to jump up and ask them all what they wanted to eat and go buy it....but something stopped me. I couldn't figure out why. I started praying and thought about this story...a story that came to life today.

Mark 12:41-44

Sitting across from the offering box, he was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions. One poor widow came up and put in two small coins—a measly two cents. Jesus called his disciples over and said, "The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they'll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford—she gave her all."

Sure, I could of stepped in and said, no don't worry about it....I will buy everything. Would I have missed the money...probably not in the large scheme of things. Would I have forgotten it by the end of the day, probably. There was an opportunity for scripture to come alive and I didn't want to ruin it. I wanted to step in, but the experience of seeing the selflessness of this woman far out weighed me wanting to put a mark on my check list of doing a good deed today.

So I watched as they bought their food and ate it together in community. They split up the bagels in half and split the two cups of coffee among the 8 of them. They laughed and enjoy their food, living in community. They talked about where the slept last night, funny "rich" people they saw this week (which I laughed silently with them....people can be so dumb sometimes) and overall just enjoyed each other's company.

Time was running short and I needed to get to work, so I began to gather my things....and then had an idea. I went into Starbucks and ordered a Carmel Flapaccino. I walked out the door and handed it to that woman who had been saving up her money for it. She looked at me with a huge smile on her face and I simply said "Thank You". She asked "For what" and I told her "for reminding me about what life is really all about. You blessed me". She smiled and nodded.

She gave her all, for the sake of helping others. For the sake of knowing regardless of what she wanted, they needed it more. Whether she knew or not, she did exactly what Jesus has commanded us to do. That was a sweet reminder of how scripture is still for today. Living as Jesus lived is still for today.

I am thankful for running into the homeless today. They reminded me of how you can be rich in spirit, even when you are poor financially. I want to be rich in spirit. That is why I miss the homeless. Not because it makes me feel good to give to them, but because of how much I learn from them. They have a perspective on life that will stop you in your tracks and make you wanna slow down.

So next time you run into someone who may be less fortunate than you financially, don't just give to them to mark it off your list, but learn from them. They all have something to teach, even the crazy ones who tell you the world is ending and we better take cover. You can learn about what it looks like to live your life in fear constantly from those :).