Refuge for the Homeless

 “I hate those who cling to worthless idols; as for me, I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭31:6-8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

https://www.bible.com/111/psa.31.6-8.niv

Yesterday I joined my church friends to distribute food to the homeless.  Where do people go when they have nothing?  I learned that most of them live in tents just beyond the small stretch of empty lot we used every first of each month as our venue.  For heat they use propane tanks.  When their clothes get wet they discard them because there is no place to wash and refresh.  They walk a lot during the day scrounging from the pity and mercy of others.  They go to the clinic for methadone to ease their addiction carrying the medication in little metal suitcases.  They are a family getting their protection and companionship from each other.

It is a stark life devoid of any creature comforts.  It is a hard life.  Lord it is difficult to see your face among those who live in the fringes of society.  Often in my heart, I asked, “is what we’re doing enough?” Is it okay that they get a hot lunch, bagged food, toiletries, toilet paper, clothes, shoes, coats, blankets that will not last until the end of the month, let alone a week?  

Yet, here we are providing a small hope in the eyes of those who revel on compassion from others.  It is not the kind of life I would want for anyone and I pray that there is a worldwide solution to the human crises that is before us as a society.  The answer shouts, “one person at a time.”  If we all do our part to care for our brothers and sisters in need one person at a time maybe, there is a bigger hope for each of us not only to solve the unsolvable; the tasks of eradicating hunger, poverty, injustice and all the other evils  that a heart devoid of love spawns.