A couple of Sundays ago Matt, Ashley, and the kids came down from Santa Barbara for a few days at the start of Ashley’s spring break. Part of the plan for Sunday was that some of the family would take in “The Hunger Games”; I hadn’t planned on going but it ended up with Ashley, Lauren, and me. We went early enough to grab something to eat before getting into the long waiting line, something I very rarely do is to wait in line on an opening weekend for a big movie. I am more the “let’s wait a week or two, still see it on the bigger screens but not with the agony of waiting in line” type. On the way through the parking structure directly to the In and Out was a homeless man waiting around for a hand out and not being really overt about his request, if I had my blinders in place I could have, and did actually, walk right by without giving it much thought. While in line Ashley asked if we could add a cheese burger to our order for the man; what’s a dad going to do, say no? What does the Heavenly Father do when his children ask for a way to help somebody? He provides them the way. We added the burger and Ashley made the delivery. I’m very pleased with how my kids are turning out; it is quite a blessing when they show me how compassionate they are, how thoughtful, and how loving they are. It can also be a bit convicting.
Yesterday after my morning swim I decided that a Burger King breakfast was in order since it was just half a block out of my way back to the office. My path down Main Street in Alhambra to the “restaurant” from the LA Fitness took me on the opposite side from a large church whose entryway is used by homeless folks for nights. On the way by I observed a couple of them stirring and thought to myself “I’ll just stay on this side of Main on my way back and cross to office down the way” and I was immediately brought up short. I was the bad guy in the parable of The Good Samaritan, down to the very act of walking down the street on the opposite side so as not to get involved. This is not the first time I’ve wrestled with this conundrum of how to meet a need larger than myself and on this very spot and with coming face to face with the needy. I changed my approach and determined to buy gift coupons to hand to them on my way by except that Burger King sells gift cards instead and so I got one. The signals would have favored the lesser path and I had to push the walk button and wait for the signal change to take myself by them. There are three that morning while usually there are one or two and as I approached one of them was straitening up from being sick in the city flower garden and the area reeked of alcohol confirming my decision to get a gift card over cash. The unfortunate reality is that they’d use the cash for their addiction rather than what they need, food. I hand off the card to one of the men and pat him on the should giving a silent prayer and feeling broken myself rather than good about it; I probably should have dropped off my breakfast as well since there were three men and stuck to the instant oatmeal I keep in my file drawer. I’ve tossed a pebble in the rushing river trying to dam it up.
What are we to do with the homeless and the acute need of the hungry? There are any number of institutional ways of handling it and we participate in them. We have money withheld for “Habitat for Humanity” from my check and that’s good but pretty antiseptic. At LCPC we have a number of efforts underway and we support most of them. We give to the mission trips; the Rosarito Orphanage getting started, Project Dominicana, the Men’s Mexico Trip, and then there is Mission Arizona where we give and I go along and get dirty with the mission team. Our Children’s Ministry group supports the Children’s Hunger Fund as well as a number of other support efforts and our Deacon’s do the Neighbors helping Neighbors as well as supplying a closet full of food and gift cards for families in the area in deep need.
These are all good and worthy efforts to be involved in but I still wrestle with the problem when I come face to face with it. The person who is begging and hungry, standing right in front of me does not want to hear “I give at the office”. What does that do for him? I see a need for me to fundamentally change the way I approach this. First, I cannot purposely avoid the issue by walking on the other side of the street; that is no longer a real option. I need to meet the person and assess the situation for what it is in the moment. If I think that what aid I am equipped to give them is really harm, as in giving cash to the homeless person who has a substance abuse problem, then I need to address them and decline. Secondly, I need to arm myself to give some instant aid if possible perhaps by carrying gift cards/certificates to a local food place for the people I come across. I could even take this a step further and purposely make my way by this church and do a census, buy them all a breakfast and forego my own or delay my own. Thirdly, I could possibly get directly involved with one of the other missions to the poor.
At this point in my post I could let it go for your consideration but I must throw a cautionary tale out for you to think about as well. Last summer Cindy and I were taking a late walk during a weekend away and the street was pretty deserted. A homeless man stopped his cart to allow us to pass by the little bottleneck in the sidewalk and did not seem to be asking for any assistance while simply being polite. I smiled and gave him a nod in recognition of this courtesy as we moved along and we were met with an explosion of emotion from him and a tirade ensued about what I thought was so funny and a rant went on about many unrelated injustices that he’s suffered. This man was mentally and/or emotionally disturbed either as a result of or resulted in his homeless condition. If any of us determine that we are called in some way to minister to the homeless we need to exercise some caution as to when, where, and how we go about it. The homeless can be desperate and disturbed and we need to be prepared for that and pray for guidance and presence of the Holy Spirit as we go about the Lord’s business. I guess that can be true about most things…
In His Grip - jerry
