Yesterday, I finally joined my church on a visit to the homeless. In the past, I have always justified not going by thinking that I do other things or worse - that it's their fault they are homeless. So, to me, what's the point? After all, there are lots of shelters here and plenty of food banks, so they should be able to get most things they need. Since local shelters don't allow people to bring in drugs or alcohol, I have figured that anyone that actually "sleeps on the streets" is either an alcoholic or druggie. Hence, why I figured it's their fault and punishment. So, why would we help people that are choosing a life of sin and continuing sin... does it enable them? These are actual true, past thoughts that I have had.

Stupid, huh?

Besides this, I think I have also thought that it would be uncomfortable and awkward... to the point that I wouldn't be stoked to go on a homeless outreach. But that's something I don't like to admit.

So, I figured I should give it a shot. I have told myself year after year that I would do the Thanksgiving outreach, and have blamed it on my family for getting mad at missing my traditional family dinner... but this year it's on a Saturday, so I had no excuse.

So I went. I got there, got nervous, but went for it anyway. Michelle's family and I sorted out the clothes into seperate piles for gender and size. Some people immediately came over and were asking for some of the clothes. Some of this stuff looked like it came straight out of the 80's. There were actually some stone-washed jeans that about 10-15 people picked up to see if they fit. We didn't have very many men's jeans, so guys were looking at the womens to see if they would work. One guy joked and said, "I'll just cover up the tag and then no one will ever know"... and chuckled about it. We helped them find their size and what they were looking for. One woman asked me what my size was. I figured it was because she was looking for someone that was around my size. Nope. Lo and behold, about 30 minutes later, she said, "Here, this looks like it's your size." She thought I was homeless, and she was trying to help me out. It was shocked, humbled, and amazed that she'd want to help me.

After that, we were asked to distribute the underwear and socks to people. By this time, Michelle was stopped because a guy asked her to pray for his hand. She figured she'd be able to pray later, but he bowed his head and closed his eyes, so she went for it and prayed right then. She continued to talk to him until it was time to go. It was amazing. So, it's me, her mom and her sister. We walked around and gave out the underwear and socks one by one. Some men would rather go commando than wear briefs. We got into some interesting mini-conversations. One man asked me what I thought about the book of Revelation and what it was all about. I told him it would take me 5 hours to really explain but gave him an ultra-brief summary. Another man asked if we were doing this for community service. They thought there had to be some reason why we were doing this. As we're going around, one person asked if I was Megan's (Michelle's 12 yr. old sister) mom. I then pointed to Julie, but they thought she could have been her twin. That was awesome.

Throughout the little bit that I got to do, I realized some very important things. 1) These people are so giving. Many people were trying to find stuff for other people, not themselves. 2) They were so thankful to get one pair of underwear, one pair of socks, clothes and food.. (P.S. Why is it called a pair of underwear when it's only one?) 3) In some way, they are like orphans. 4) We all sin, some of them are there because of it, but others aren't. We are just lucky that we have friends and family that love us... and that haven't ever let us get to that point.

It's weird, near the end I was joking around with a couple of the guys because they were asking if we had any loin cloths. I told them that we'd try to get them around Christmas. It's funny too, because when they said my name to get my attention, I had the same joy that I have when the kids at the orphanage say it. I never expected that to happen. I never expected to have love and care for them. God is truly amazing. I don't know why it surprises me so much when He surprises me for giving me love for people. For His people. For those people He loves so deeply and holds so close.

Hey Keith, what is that website for the backpack ministry? I am thinking about doing that and telling Helen about it. I don't know if you have talked to her about it before or not....

Oh, please pray for Mike's ankle. He has a really bad cut and it's really infected. Please pray for Betty's hand. Pray that God would be her provider. Please also pray for Willow in general.