We have this homeless guy in our town. He sits out in front of this one store that he seems to like. I have seen him there a couple times, and expected him to probably move on to another town, but he was there again today. So I stopped and talked to him.
Homeless people are a unique breed. This guy's name was Chris, and he was from California. Usually I respond like a typical Christian around homeless people - either treat them as a project to save, or ignore them. Today I decided to not do either. So I sat down and talked to him. He told me he was on the streets because people messed with him wherever he went. He said the cops in the area arrested him for sleeping in the park and put him in jail for a month. Evidently it's illegal to sleep in the park. So he sleeps in the alley now. Evidently it isn't illegal to sleep there.
He seemed pretty normal - I was kinda surprised. Usually homeless people I talk to are mentally ill or strung out or really hard to communicate with, but Chris was easy to talk to. We sat there for 20 minutes shooting the breeze. I told him about some things in my world, and he told me some things in his. And as I sat there talking to Chris, I was struck that it seemed pretty normal to talk to him. He was a person, not a project to fix or a problem to be ignored.
I wonder why we don't just get to know people sometimes. I don't just mean homeless people. I mean everyday people. Why do we have to treat them as ministry tasks to be saved or to be repaired or transformed? Couldn't we just see people?
It reminds me of the healing where Jesus heals this guy who was blind, but when Jesus asks him what he sees, he says he sees people, but they look like trees to him. I guess they were still all blurry. I heard one preacher try to explain that there were two healings in this story. One from blindness, and the other from nearsightedness.
I get a feeling that alot of Christians see people like trees - something to be changed. They don't see people. We look at people and throw them in a box labeled 'homeless' or 'drunk' or 'different denomination' or 'non-christian' or 'party guy'. We see reasons to not see people. We see barriers, not brothers.
I might go visit Chris again. I know where he lives. Now I'd like to get to know him.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
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1 comment:
that was a pretty good one mike, you're right, especially as a guy, we tend so much to try to fix people instead of just getting to know them relationally. For years I used to think that's what God wanted from me was for me to get fixed by grace, that's what I equated salvation with. (I know you did too). Really, to be honest, that's all I thought God could do for me was to fix me, that whole love thing was just smoke and mirrors to really hide His real motive, was to fix me so I could serve Him better. The church tries to dress that whole process up and call it love because it makes us feel good and nice and religious all over but it's not life.
There was a big fuss last night at church about how our sin doesn't separate us from God (really one guy was fussing) and he feels like he has to go through the hoops, recite scripture, confess, and on and on and on to get back in the good stuff. someone asked me how I know that I don't have to go through that kind of stuff anymore and I said, "Well, God thinks that I'm pretty cool and He really just wants to keep me around."
God doesn't do meetings, and He doesn't do projects. He does life. He does relationships. I like Him that way, He likes me that way, we made a deal to keep it like that.
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