HOME SICK

“Home. Hard to know what it is if you’ve never had one. Home. I don’t know where it is but I know I’m going home. It’s where the heart is.” – U2, “Walk On”.

As I’ve been thinking about ‘Home’ lately and how good it feels to finally return after a long trip with my family, I realized something. What if you never returned home? What if you didn’t even have a home to return to?

On my way to work every day I pass people carrying everything they own in a garbage bag, or on a pack on their back. Most of them are being released from the Salvation Army shelter that’s two blocks away. They stand outside the Jack in the Box sipping hot coffee, or wander the sidewalks with nowhere to go.

When I think about the longing I have to return home after a few days of vacation, I wonder how I’d feel if I had to hold on to that same longing every moment of my life, with no hope of release.

Jesus understood this longing, and this emptiness. He understands what it feels like to have no place you can call “Home”.

“And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Luke 9:58)

In fact, Jesus identified so much with this feeling, and with these people, that he decided to measure our love for Him based on how much we love those who are without a home.

“‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Matt.25:40)

There is no place like home, they say. Everyone deserves to have a place where they can rest and relax and be themselves. Everyone deserves the privacy and the dignity and the intimacy that can only be found at home. Jesus understands that better than anyone. He wants us to extend the grace and mercy we’ve received from Him with everyone we meet. Our homes should be open to the stranger, the outcast, and the broken. Our hearts should be open to those who long for the comfort of home but have no place to lay their head.

Please God, give us a heart like yours. Help us to love the way that you love and to give the way that you give so that the love of Jesus can flow out of us and into this broken world.

Amen.

-kg

HOMELESS FAMILY IN NEED

I've been running around today trying to help a family with a 3 week old baby. We met them on Sunday for the first time at the motel church. The father is hispanic and I believe he's here legally. The mother is from South Carolina but they're both unemployed right now. Living at the motel (for at least another week) until they figure something out.

What I'm learning is that all the different non-profits and shelters in Orange County are completely useless. Most of them have a waiting list of at least two weeks or more. None of them have empty beds to offer. And all of them have different hoops to jump through. The Christian groups won't help you if you aren't married. (They're not). Some of them require you to be employed and demand some or all of your paycheck, others require you to be unemployed and ask you to quit your job to enter their program. (So they can help you find a job later?) It's madness.

So, after making a few phone calls to people I know and trust, it came down to this: They could either take their 3 week old baby girl into a homeless shelter (Salvation Army) and sleep apart on either end of a segregated facility, or the mom could take her baby and sleep at a women's shelter (because they don't take men) and the father could sleep on a park bench and hope he didn't get arrested for "public camping".

What really breaks my heart is knowing that organizations that I've championed for years cannot do a thing to actually help these people. The truth is, I'm learning, they never were capable of actually helping anyone beyond the 10 or 12 people they were currently helping, even though they were receiving millions of dollars a year from the Government to fight homelessness in Orange County. (Most of their funding finances are spent on paying their staff and keeping the lights on in their facilities).

I think when it really comes down to it the only real solution to helping people like this are you and me. The followers of Jesus have to step up and help. We have to invest our lives in their lives. We have to let them sleep on our couches, or lend them money to buy food, or share our resources with them, or put them up in a motel until they can get help, or they will never get off the streets.

The system is designed to keep people on the streets. The motels they stay at nickel and dime them for every little thing. You can't use the phone in your motel room because the management charges you more than it costs to walk across the street to use the pay phone bolted to the telephone pole.

You can't get a job because you don't have a computer to type out a resume, or the money it takes to pay Kinko's $4 an hour to use their computer and print from their printers. Even if you do have that money, you still need more for the bus pass to get to the Kinko's, and with your 3 week old baby under your arm and no diapers or food for her, not to mention no food for yourself either, it's going to be hard to justify that $7 for a resume at Kinkos when your baby is crying out in hunger.

If you don't have a car and you spend your last $5.00 to take a 3 and a half hour bus ride to get your social security card and find out that they won't see you until you run over to the courthouse to get something signed or stamped (another 30 minute bus ride), then you've wasted an entire day for nothing. This sort of thing happens all the time.

All we can do is help one person, or one family like this, at a time. The system is broken. The shelters are full. The rescue mission is understaffed and their waiting lists are so long that people will die of exposure before they get one of those beds.

Only those who claim to follow Jesus can ever hope to make a difference. How? By giving until it hurts and by serving those who can never pay us back. By sharing what we don't want to give up and by allowing the problems of the homeless and the poor to become our problems.

We'll have to love more than we think we can. We'll have to give more than we're expecting to. We'll have to do even greater things than these.

-kg

Tell me what a congregration sings and I will tell you their theology

GUEST BLOG ARTICLE
Tell me what a congregration sings and I will tell you their theology
by Dwight Smith

NOTE: Dwight Smith and his wife serve the homeless community in Santa Ana, California. He shared the article below with me today and was gracious enough to allow me to re-publish it here. I hope it blesses you as it did me. - kg

**
To the Christian Century,

We run a house of hospitality and a soup kitchen in Santa Ana, California.

Today as we served lunch to about 200 souls in the government plaza, I wondered if I was becoming childish. As the acolytes of local government passed by, scowling, I "turned up the volume."

For fifteen years we Catholic Workers have been "reading the alphabet" while we arrange and distribute the US mail along with our soup. Knowing how utterly dependent homeless people are for the mail to contain the funds or documents they need for "redemption," I, years ago, became almost inured to their repeated requests that I "check again" or "keep a lookout" for their salvific correspondence.

To allay their fears that we might miss something, we began pulling an entire sheaf of incoming envelopes, gathered by the first letter of the last name, and crying out, "Doing the "M's," or "Doing the R's!" Then we would proceed to sing out the surnames so everyone in the soup- line could hear their "call."

Over the years I became culturally more sensitive. I pride myself on being able to pronounce Spanish and Vietnamese surnames. In a lower voice I can often guess how the mortified parents from Detroit and Mississippi would have their kid's names properly pronounced all these years later in this God-forsaken place so far from home.

By saying aloud every surname beginning with a given letter of the alphabet for every single communicant, we have arrived at a process that largely allays the fears of those for whom no check ever comes.

This process, a hymn of sorts, is the way we sing the names of the children whose ship won't be coming in; for those whose only ship is deportation; and for those whose forebears "already got their trip" on a slave ship many years ago. We sing the names of those who will not be rescued this time around - at least not in the way they want.

We sing out these names, a tiny balm over anxious and troubled waters, and we sit with the empty-handed until, on rare occasions and after many, many years, they raise their own voices in song.

It is then, thanks to your Pastors' message to a young seminarian, that I now recognize the hymnal of our theology: I now hear the loud, clear voice of those who have turned, undistracted by wealth or power or even sustenance, utterly toward the Cross.

It is the song of those reconciled to the singular sufficiency of the Redemption Himself; of those for whom no lesser counterfeit will suffice.

Thank you for your much needed and salvific interpretation. Tomorrow I pray that I might listen anew to the sound of my friends, silently singing of the Love that will at last their terrible suffering suffice.

Thank you for showing me how to follow this sweet, sweet sound.

-Dwight Smith

HOMELESS: THE MOTEL KIDS OF ORANGE COUNTY

Premieres This Monday, July 26th at 9pm on HBO

About this documentary
HOMELESS: THE MOTEL KIDS OF ORANGE COUNTY explores the world of children who reside in discounted motels within walking distance of Disneyland, living in limbo as their families struggle to survive in one of the wealthiest regions of America.

The parents of motel kids are often hard workers who don’t earn enough to own or rent homes. As a result, they continue to live week-to-week in motels, hoping against hope for an opportunity that might allow them to move up in the O.C.

For more information on the show - AND TO WATCH A TRAILER OF THE FILM:
GO HERE

PRIDE KILLS

This weekend I had an opportunity to see the destructive power of pride in action. My friend Robert is 77 years old and homeless. He lives in a motel room in Santa Ana all alone. He can barely breathe. He has no strength to stand and walk to the bathroom without stopping halfway to rest against the wall and catch his breath. He eats Ramen noodles and donated food, and yet he refuses to allow me to buy him lunch. He will not, even as a personal favor to me, allow a volunteer from the Senior Community Center to come and talk to him about their free meals program, or their free shuttle plan.

Instead, Robert talks to me about his plan to ask his doctor to amputate his right arm because he is in constant pain following surgery after an accident. “If I let them just cut my arm off,” he says, “then I could stay at Fountain Care and they would bring me my meals and someone would be there to take care of me all the time,” he says. I can only shake my head in disbelief. “But Robert,” I try to explain, “you could stay here in this bed and keep your arm and someone could still bring you your meals and come visit you and make sure you’re doing ok.” He makes a face and shakes his head, coughing hard into a napkin as he lays back on his rented bed. “Naw,” he finally croaks out. “I don’t want to lose what little independence I have.” And around and around we go.

Driving home after our visit I am frustrated and I let God know about it. “Please, God, let Robert let me help him,” I pray. I remember Jesus instructing his disciples not to take anything with them and to leave their money belts at home as they went out to preach the Gospel. In some ways, Robert is giving me an opportunity to learn how to be his friend and to demonstrate the Kingdom of God to him without money. If I don’t give him money, then what can I give him? Friendship. Honesty. Love. Compassion. Jesus.

Still, it frustrates me that Robert would rather do things his own way and lose his arm than to accept help from someone else and keep his arm, and his health. This isn’t anything new, of course. Many people who are homeless are kept there because of their pride. Many exhibit varying degrees of “It’s my way or the highway” attitudes which prevent them from entering a program or submitting to the rules imposed by a shelter or a rescue mission. So, they hold hard and fast to their way of doing things, even though their way keeps them homeless and hungry and alone.

In some ways I can relate because, at heart, I am a prideful man. If there’s anything I grapple with on a daily basis, it’s my pride.

This weekend I also experienced a bit of humility. On more than one occasion I found myself humiliated and it gave me an opportunity to explore my pride a bit more. I realize that the only reason I got my feelings hurt in each case was due to the stature of my pride. If I had been humble and meek my feelings would not have been hurt. I could’ve cleared the low ceilings without banging my head if my knees were already bent low. Instead, I walked upright and got smacked in the face with my head held high.

Someone once told me that you know you’re really a servant when you get treated like one and you don’t get insulted. I’m not there yet, but one day I hope to be.

Pride kills. I’ve seen it divide families, churches, and marriages. It also removes us from God’s grace and takes us on a detour from the Kingdom of God.

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” – James 4:6

At the sermon on the mount, Jesus established the reality of God’s Kingdom for us. He told us that, in God’s economy, the poor, the weak, the humble, and the broken-hearted were the most blessed in the Kingdom. Along this redefined scale of greatness, those who find themselves at the bottom in this life are blessed to learn that, in God’s Kingdom, they are actually closer to the top than they thought.

We often get confused and say that God’s Kingdom is upside down, but the truth is that our reality is what’s out of whack. God is not upside down, nor is His perspective. This is why those who seem to be on the top in our society (the rich, the famous, and the powerful) often admit that they are empty, broken and disillusioned to discover that Jesus was right all along. The way to true life and joy and happiness is down, not up. When we surrender this fantasy of having it all and let go of everything except God himself we’ve taken a most important step. Many of those who are weak, humble, broken and poor already know that they are not good enough to make it on their own. They are at the top of God’s scale of greatness even though they seem to be at the bottom of ours.

I must confess that I still struggle with these two opposing definitions of greatness. I catch myself wanting fame and working for the praise of men, even though I have seen the Kingdom and I believe that Jesus showed us the Truth. True greatness is found at the feet of others with a basin and a towel, not sitting atop the highest sky-scraper overlooking the largest city while you count your money. I know that, but I am still learning to embrace the reality of it.

So, if anything, my experience this weekend with naked pride and painful humiliation has been beneficial to me. I’ve received a reminder of how pride can imprison someone, and I’ve discovered that my prideful heart is still alive and well –and still in need of being crucified with Christ.

What are the things I do every day that feed my ego or stoke my pride? Can I fully surrender these empty aspirations at worldly fame? Can I actually demonstrate that I believe Jesus is true when he says that the greatest in the Kingdom is the servant of all?

I stayed up late last night, after my wife and sons went to bed. I sat alone and I recapped my weekend. I took stock of all these things and I believe there are some things that still need to die in me. There are still territories in my heart that need reformation. Let the revolution continue.
**
kg

LOVE THE POOR

LOVE THE POOR
by Keith Giles

I received a very encouraging email this week from a friend in Torrance, California who just hosted a massive "Health Fair" for the homeless a few weeks ago.

Read below what this ministry did to serve the poor in their community. The Kingdom is advancing here.
**
Keith,

Our Health Fair was an incredible success. All attendees registered at thee door and received cards with all the stations color coded.

In order:
1) Foot washing- Allowed for a few relaxing, intimate minutes with people. Washed, cleaned, dried, powdered, with new socks and foot medicine provided to those who had athletes feet or some fungus. This usually finished off with a few minutes of prayer for the person receiving the washing. If you ever want to get to know a homeless person, wash their feet and ask them to tell you about themselves. I find everyone has a story to tell and they really do want to share it, only no one cares enough to ask them for it. Mother Teresa said most people she cared for actually died of a lonely heart.

2) Next stop - 2 barbers chairs cutting hair, beards.

3) Dentist visit- Free dental inspection and appointments with Dr Carl who goes to our Church and donates every Friday afternoon to free dental care for the homeless. He pays all the secretary and dental hygienists, plus the labs, and crowns and whatever.

4) Nurses administered free Hepatitis A, B and C shots and Pneumonia shoots. (At our Wednesday night before Thanksgiving dinner we will give free flu shots).

5) Prayer team corner. Always busy, worked in pairs and alternated prayers in/out over the course of the evening.

6) Mental health Doctors to talk with folks, review medications and make recommendations. No medicine was dispensed.

7) County Drug and Alcohol booth that could place people in recovery shelters that night or as soon as they are ready.

8) Free shirts, protein bars, and goodies

9) Free Dinner and lots of it. As much as you wanted. Desert cart with cupcakes and the icing and goodies applied at table side just as they wanted.

Re-Cap:
We had 140 attendees, 15 of which were complete families. We had 125 volunteers form 3 churches.

Our God is such a Great God.

As I explained to the Press- These folks are our family. We treat and love them as we would our close kin at Thanksgiving dinner, with the respect and love we show our family.

THANKSGIVING DINNER PLANS
We will have our third annual Thanksgiving dinner this year. I go to the homeless camps, freeway under crossings, the crack and meth camps along the river in Harbor city, the corners were the migrants hang out and invite them all. We have staged intersections and shuttle them to dinner and back to their corners.

MINISTRY TO PROSTITUTES
I worked with a Ministry an Assemblies of God in the LBC at the North Long Beach Compton border. I was big into fresh fruit and vegetables food distribution to any Churches in need I could find. They would have a once a month "Ladies of the Night" ministry. The Church was in a prostitution/crack neighborhood were the girls pimps hung out. The pimps were bitter and mean and would not let the women come, but praise God they started coming for fellowship prayer and occasional help. A few women were secreted away from the location and from their pimps to start new lives.

Remember: Always travel in pairs and with one or two women in ministry to street prostitutes in case the Police want to talk with you.

Sorry for the long email, (it might be a record for me). Looking forward to new Kingdom adventures with your Church.

His Peace in your life - Amen
Bernie
**

I am SO encouraged by this email. Not only because of all the beautiful expressions of love being shown to the poor, but also because of Bernie's heart for people. It makes me want to get on my knees and ask God for more of His love for others. I want to have a heart like Jesus for those in need.

Blessings to you Bernie. May your tribe increase.
-kg