lessons from the least of these

Someone asked me recently what was the incident that caused me to be passionate about witnessing and I actually have a definite answer for that question. I remember exactly what made me think, "Ok, this way of life makes sense if I believe what the Bible says." A group of us make sack lunches for the homeless once a month for a service project and we give them to a man who goes downtown and passes them out. On that particular afternoon when we finished making the lunches, the man asked if anyone wanted to help him pass them out. I thought why not? So I went. We started about 7:30 pm and I didn't get back home until about midnight. It was so cold that I lost feeling in my hands about an hour into the evening. We each had backpacks and we carried as many sleeping bags as we could and set out on foot. The leader had a wagon with the sack lunches inside. We just walked around downtown and talked to any homeless person we saw. One of the first homeless men we saw needed gloves and one of the guys in our group just took his own gloves off and gave them to this homeless man. We prayed over anyone we met and then kept moving onto the next person.  As we were walking down an empty street, a homeless man started walking toward us. We talked with him and he pulled out his ID and said today is my birthday I'm 52. It was so cold and this man was spending his birthday on the streets alone. We gave him a sleeping bag and then we sang happy birthday to him. That moment was one that impacted me because we're all just people and this man deserves love just as much as any of us do. I understand that choices probably led him to the point of being homeless but putting those thoughts aside, this man is another person just as I am and he's worthy of being appreciated. I grabbed his tough hands and prayed over him. I don't know what it's like to be homeless and I've never been to the dark places that this man had. I'm aware that there may be a time in my life that I'll be hungry and alone depending on where The Lord has me go so I prayed for protection over that man and thanked God for his life. We continued walking and we walked under an overpass and underneath were 4 tents. They were all empty but it was obvious that people lived there. Many times we put homeless people in a separate category so that we don't have to treat them like we would our friends or family. These people that live in those tents on the sand underneath an overpass are God's creation just as much as we are. God looks at them and loves them with the same love he gives freely to all of us. In fact, I think of how much Jesus truly loved the least of these. Jesus mentions the least of these many times and says the things we do for them are the things we do for Him. At one point we walked underneath a bridge where a man was lying on the concrete. His name was Jordan and he was unlike the other homeless men we met. Jordan worked at International Paper a year ago and he lost everything and his family left him. He was embarrassed and ashamed. He looked at me and said, "Why did God allow this to happen to me?" I thought of 2 Corinthians where Paul talks about being under such persecution that he couldn't endure it. Then Paul says "This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God." I told Jordan that God takes things away from us to show us that we really can do nothing without Him. Sometimes God will take away everything we have to get our attention. Jordan actually said that it made sense but he didn't like it. In fact, the Bible says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Jordan relied on his wealth his entire life and now he has nothing so he's open to turning to God. God will break us down to nothing so that we see his power but also his mercy. Jordan could choose to harden his heart but God's mercy is shown when a group of Christians show up at 11 pm to give him a sandwich and pray for him. At the end of that evening, I went home and knew that this is what my life has to be about. If I claim to believe in a loving and compassionate God then I have to be loving and compassionate. Showing genuine love to the people that society rejects is where God's heart is so that's where my heart is. When you go to the places where they live and look in their eyes, you can't turn away from them. You have to show them that you care because God cares.