If you can find it in your heart to give …
Please check out this website and read about the work being done in Honduras. If you are able to give even the smallest amount it will help.
When I was in college I had the opportunity to go to Houston to work with people who were homeless. Each day we had different assignments. One day our group went and helped clean and paint for people who lived in abandoned apartments that had no electricity or water. Another day we were given 50 sandwiches and we passed them out to every homeless person we could find. My favorite, most challenging day, was the day we were given only 5 sandwiches. Our goal that day was to find someone … give them a sandwich, and then spend as much time as they would allow, just talking.
That day was the day I learned a little about what circumstances can take a person to the streets. I saw how difficult it could be to climb out from that position without serious help. I also saw a hopelessness I hadn’t witnessed before. The people on the streets of Houston became human to me that day.
There is a man I pass everyday that stands on the corner, with a sign, waiting for someone to give him something. I never know the best reaction. Should I give him something or not? I don’t know.
It’s so much easier for me if I’m on a spring break trip and my purpose is to help the homeless. In my own city, my own neighborhood, it seems I just try not to make eye contact and drive away as quickly as possible.
I’m open for suggestions. What could I do to help that man on the corner? How can I help him? How can I do something positive for him instead of just driving by looking the other way?
Thank you SO much for your “shout out” today on the Dump Fund!
Blessings
Ya know, I don’t ever know what I should do with the guy on the corner. I feel guilty for not helping him sometimes, but then part of me is afraid to offer help to him, knowing that I will pass by again and again. He has been on that corner two years or more. This is such a weird world we live in…but I suppose it always has been a weird world. I don’t know what the “right” thing is. I, like you, drive by and try not to make eye contact. I just don’t know…
I APPRECIATE YOUR COMMENT AND YOUR HONESTY. THESE SITUATIONS ARE HARD FOR ME. I WAS RAISED THAT WE DO NOT GIVE THINGS TO “THOSE” PEOPLE, WHETHER IT BE $ OR FOOD. IN PORTUGAL THERE WERE LOTS OF BEGGARS AND WE WERE TOLD TO IGNORE THEM. BEING A SINGLE WOMAN I’M A LITTLE LEERY OF CERTAIN PEOPLE, YOU KNOW?
BUT THEN WHEN I TRY TO THINK ABOUT WHEAT JESUS WOULD DO IT CHALLENGES ME TO THINK OUTSIDE MY EXPERIENCE … OUTSIDE MY COMFORT ZONE. I’M STILL WORKING ON THIS ONE.
I don’t live in a place like you do where I daily drive by someone standing on the corner with a sign begging. I’ve heard the news stories and learned about “professional” beggars who return to a pretty nice well-furnished homes at the end of their day of begging. These folks make it more difficult for those in real need to get help. Years ago, in Bombay, India, we who had traveled there for Kingdom work were instructed not to give anything to the little children who begged…nor to any beggars at all. The government was trying to discourage the practice.
I think you have to respond on a case by case basis. If you’re impression is that they are really in need and you have the means to help…well that settles it, doesn’t it? Here at our little church we get calls for help with groceries or utilities or rent. In spite of the trouble we sometimes have determining the legitimacy of these cries for help, I’m glad we get such calls. It means that our church has a reputation, like Jesus, that we are willing to do something.
I’ve had so many people over the years promise that they would pay the money back to the church. As far as I know that has never happened. For the last little while, I just tell them that it is not necessary. That what we are giving them is not a loan. We just want to help. It bothers us, of course, in our attempts to be good stewards of what God places in our hands, to run into those who take advantage of good things and good people. Still, wouldn’t we all rather be givers? Wouldn’t we rather give and see it be taken adantage of, than to refuse to give and find out later it was a case of real need?
Anyway…the fact that you and Sherry have such tender hearts for people in need…will, I’m sure, guide you to do whatever Jesus wants you to do for those with whom He brings you into contact.
I GUESS I GREW UP WITH MANY WARNINGS OF HOW MUCH PEOPLE WOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU … AND SO I CAN BY CYNICAL. I THINK YOUR ADVICE IS GOOD … GO CASE BY CASE. IF YOU CAN GIVE THEN DO.
I WOULD HATE TO KNOW THAT I MISSED THE OPPORTUNITY TO REALLY HELP SOMEONE BECAUSE I WAS PARANOID.
I APPRECIATE THE FEEDBACK … THANKS.
I learned a good lesson about this very subject a couple of weeks ago. My family and I went out to dinner at a local deli. There was a lady sitting by herself at a booth nearby and I was watching her as I sat there with my husband and my kids and started taking mental notes about her. I noticed that she wasn’t very clean, she kind of talked to herself, wasn’t eating, food was never brought out to her, and she was intensly watching the tv mounted on the wall. Then I noticed that the menu she kept looking at was actually a catering menu…thats when I knew something was not right. I had this unquenchable urge to get up, walk over to her and see if I could buy her something to eat. But I was afraid. I was afraid she would accuse me of butting into her tv watching time…afraid she was unstable enough that she might holler at me for implying she couldn’t buy food…afraid of being wrong about her. I grew more and more anxious over this nagging feeling that I needed to do something. I decided to encourage my husband to go buy her something…take me out of the equation…but just as my mouth was about to form the words she very quickly stood up and walked out. She took with her a sleeping bag that was partially unrolled that had been sitting on the seat next to her and left on foot, almost running. That was when my heart broke. I’ve thought about that lady several times since that night. Its a huge lesson for me…one I won’t soon forget. I was able and capable to help someone that I knew in my heart needed it and I didn’t respond…at least not in time. I wish I had. What it boils down to…6 measly little dollars could have changed her evening at the very least…and I didn’t go for it because I was afraid she would reject me or my assumption. I have to take a lesson from this experience and use it for a positive outcome the next time I’m faced with this situation. I hope that the next time I know I should do something, I actually will.
DON’T YOU HATE HIND SIGHT SOMETIMES …
I GUESS WE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR THE TIMES THAT IT SHOWS US HOW TO DO BETTER IN THE FUTURE. I LIKE THAT YOU NOTICED HER AT ALL … SO MANY PEOPLE WOULDN’T … DIDN’T. THE FACT THAT YOU’RE STILL THINKING ABOUT HER THIS MUCH LATER SHOWS YOUR HEART … SHE TOUCHED YOU … AND YOU WILL STEP FORWARD THE NEXT TIME AND SOMEONE WILL BE BLESSED BECAUSE OF THAT ACTION.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS WITH US.