lets talk
so...i went on a mission trip this past week to chicago. great trip, really. God moved in so many peoples lives and used us to share His love with the people of chicago and we held nothing back. It was great.
but here is my issue. my heart goes out to the homeless. i truly hate that they are in this kind of situation and i would really like to love on them, but i refuse to give them money. i will not let them use it to get drunk or high. so, the solution is give them food...right. but why is it when i offer them food they look at me like i am a terrible person. aj and i went out one night about 10:30-11ish and we had with us a ton of burrito's(leftovers from feeding the mission trippers). im talking about so many burrito's that i had a hard time carrying the box it was so heavy. we had the hardest time giving those burrito's away that night. people would come ask us for money and we would offer them food and they cursed us. i just dont get it. how am i supposed to help. i have worked in enough homeless shelters to know that there are programs to help them get off the streets and on there feet. which tells me that there are people that have made a choice to be homeless and stay homeless. i just dont understand that. how am i supposed to help them when they dont want to be helped...all they want it a free hand-out to get drunk or high with. aj and i conversed about it and i guess the only solution is to let the people of chicago handle it. the only way to help these people is if the people of chicago say "thats enough" and come along side them and offer them a better life. its a lot like the theory of that a missionary wont save a nation. it will take the people of that nation, that live everyday with their countrymen, to impact them through relationships.
i know this is long...im sorry. it just troubled me that the "have-nots" would refuse generosity. i could be way off on all of this...i encourage you to form your own opinion.
but here is my issue. my heart goes out to the homeless. i truly hate that they are in this kind of situation and i would really like to love on them, but i refuse to give them money. i will not let them use it to get drunk or high. so, the solution is give them food...right. but why is it when i offer them food they look at me like i am a terrible person. aj and i went out one night about 10:30-11ish and we had with us a ton of burrito's(leftovers from feeding the mission trippers). im talking about so many burrito's that i had a hard time carrying the box it was so heavy. we had the hardest time giving those burrito's away that night. people would come ask us for money and we would offer them food and they cursed us. i just dont get it. how am i supposed to help. i have worked in enough homeless shelters to know that there are programs to help them get off the streets and on there feet. which tells me that there are people that have made a choice to be homeless and stay homeless. i just dont understand that. how am i supposed to help them when they dont want to be helped...all they want it a free hand-out to get drunk or high with. aj and i conversed about it and i guess the only solution is to let the people of chicago handle it. the only way to help these people is if the people of chicago say "thats enough" and come along side them and offer them a better life. its a lot like the theory of that a missionary wont save a nation. it will take the people of that nation, that live everyday with their countrymen, to impact them through relationships.
i know this is long...im sorry. it just troubled me that the "have-nots" would refuse generosity. i could be way off on all of this...i encourage you to form your own opinion.
posted by Mark "Sleeve" Smyers at
11:13 PM
3 Comments:
okay so...it is scary how eye to eye we see...we wrote the same blog with no idea we had done it...how great is that? i am also glad that this issue still burns in you..it is surely blog worthy and conversation worthy and discussion worthy and every other kind of worthy..and i still don't have an answer.
By
A.J., at 3/27/2006 12:14 AM
I see your point, and have some opinions on it myself, but to play devil's advocate - can you really deny money to all of them b/c of the actions of a few? Can you generalize the whole homeless population because of the actions of some people that will only use the money for a "quick fix"? It's kind of like generalizing Christians - when people look @ the actions of a few Christians (i.e. the Catholic Priests who have recently been charged with pedifile, etc.) and refuse to ever consider Christianity or religion or that there could be a loving God b/c of this generalization that all Christians are in fact, hypocritical and decieving. Is that fair? Is it fair to those who are truly in need to refuse money to them because the guy down the street just wants alcohol? Who are we to say what they will use it for? Maybe the guy that got the money and ran away that AJ wrote about was going to use it to get his son medicine or something he needed but couldn't afford. Maybe not...but sometimes I think I'd rather take the chance.
They are addicted, they are dependent, and without medical attention (which most of them will never recieve b/c it's so expensive) they won't ever physiologically "recover" and they will just get worse - as hard as it is to think about.
Maybe sometimes they will use the money on drugs and alcohol, and more than likely this is what they will use it for, but maybe, just maybe they will see past the 'quick fix' and will be encouraged to see that someone still loves the "unlovable" and the "untouchable" (which is what they all see themselves as) even when they don't think they necessarily deserve it.
I'd rather give to the least of these with a generous heart than be stingy b/c of a judgmental generalization. Money, or food, or time, or prayer....give with a joyful heart...and pray that the Lord uses whatever it is for His glory.
And that my friend, was a novel of opinion...
By
Katie, at 3/27/2006 1:24 PM
I honestly see your point. I dont know the right answer. Its caught up somewhere in there. I suppose God will challenge the hearts of everyone to act in accordance to His will.
I do agree, 100%, with the fact that we need to give without even blinking, whether it be food or money or an embrace. We should never be selfish with our love. Truthfully, I dont know how good I am at this.
HHHMMMMM...Good convo. I like it.
By
Mark "Sleeve" Smyers, at 3/27/2006 11:06 PM
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