Homelessness, part 2

Now, a long time ago I posted about homelessness, and I am ashamed to say it has taken a couple or a few years for me to interact with the homeless again. Today, I saw a lady on the side of the street with a sign that read "Jobless, have a kid." I offered to buy her food and she accepted so she took her bike across the street while I drove there to meet her at Panera. It is so fascinating to hear peoples' stories sometimes. Her husband had died a few years ago from leukemia and she had been a house wife up until then. She didn't feel as though she had any marketable skills but she had been a dog bather before because she loved animals. Her friends were trying to set her up with another dog grooming business so I hope that works out for her. She had a 14 year old son who was currently living with friends because she is now living in a tent. Can you imagine, living in a tent in the middle of Sarasota? As it turns out, her tent is very close to my school so I'm curious to see exactly where it is, although I probably wouldn't be able to find it if I looked for it as I'm sure she's tucked away somewhere that you couldn't find unless you were specifically looking for it. She told me when she was younger she could never have imagined herself living as a homeless person. Later in the day I had a couple friends over for dinner and the woman commented how everyone is just a few bad breaks away from something like that happening. It reminds me of something a friend once told me that has always stuck with me, even to this day although it has been several years since he said it. At the time I was looking into going over to Kenya for a year and he encouraged me to go over there for a 3 year term. I politely explained that I had really good job security and could only take a year leave of absence. To this he replied, "Our only real security is found in Christ Jesus." I was dumbfounded as to what to say next, pretty sure I stumbled over my words or something, I don't remember exactly. But it's true, isn't it? No matter how financially secure you feel you are, our only true security is in Christ. Imagine that tomorrow, you lost your job and couldn't find a replacement and went through your emergency savings, then what? Most of us could find someone to stay with for at least a little while but people's patience does eventually run out. If I'm ever homeless, which I pray will never happen, I'll still have my security in Christ Jesus my Lord. Some people follow Christ for the things that they think they're guaranteed in Scripture for following Him. The only thing that I can tell that you're guaranteed for following God is that you get God Himself, and that's enough. If you can't live without all the niceties that the typical American middle class life has to offer, than are you truly living with and for Christ. Not saying we have to give up all those things, but it should at least cross our minds that if we lost everything, we would still have Christ, and He is more than enough, as the song goes. Where do you turn when everything hits rock bottom? What if you were in this lady's shoes? Where would you turn? I've heard the CEO of Crown say several times that 70% of jobs are never posted, they're filled through networking. How do you network if you're homeless?

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, when we celebrate Jesus' victory over death through the resurrection. It sounds ludicrous when you think about it...to say someone rose from the dead? How can perfectly logical people accept that as a certain conclusion. For me, it took some research on the life of Christ to convince me. For others, it's simply when they come to the end of themselves and realize they need a Savior that they realize not only do they need a Savior but they need One who raised from the dead. This past week in youth group we talked about how the resurrection impacts our lives. This struck me as an odd question as I had never really considered it in those terms before. How does the resurrection impact my daily life? Certainly something to think about, isn't it? The resurrection is something I need to dwell more on, as it is a promise to freedom in Christ as much as anything else. A promise that I don't have to live in bondage to sin anymore, even though I do still sin on a daily basis. It's a reminder that my sin doesn't define who I am, but rather that Christ defines who I am in Him. It's a reminder that God sees me as holy and pure, not because of anything I do on my own, but rather because of the sacrifice that His Son made on a cross over 2,000 years ago. It is beyond my comprehension that God sees my as pure and holy. I look at myself and see all the sin I so often find myself caught up in, but God sees things differently. He sees me with Christ interceding on my behalf, with Christ saying, "I purchased him with my blood, he's my child." Just like the Scriptures say, "How great is the love that God has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are!" I've always loved that verse, partly because where else do you hear the word 'lavished.' haha But seriously, God lavishes His love on us, not because of anything we've done but simply because we're His children. He has chosen us. What an honor, really. To be called a child of God? Who gets that privilege? To know we're restored to the One who created us? That's pretty overwhelming so I'm going to stop there and challenge you to think about that. God loved you so much that He sacrificed His own Son. He died for us while we were still sinners. Even if you don't believe in God, He died for you too. Believe me, you wouldn't be walking around on earth were it not for the grace that God affords each one of us for even the privilege to take our next breath.