Perspective

This morning our non-profit Urban Outreach Los Angeles had an outreach in Central Park in Pasadena.  Some friends have been going there every Wednesday evening and doing  a bible study and feeding people pizza for a little over a year.  They have really gotten to know the people and  some  have really started to turn their lives around.  More than that though they have made good friends and become a part of one another's lives.

So, this morning a couple who does catering brought breakfast for everyone and  we just sat and had a meal together, and talked.  We had some socks, and hygiene kits and sleeping bags to give as gifts.  I went around and gave everyone name tags.  I love that job because I get to meet everyone and just say hi, and hopefully remember one or two of their names eventually. I am not always great at starting conversations out of nothing so I like having a task as an opener. 

It is a hard thing to process a day like this, it leaves you with all sorts of emotions and thoughts.  First, I realize that some stories are just a whole lot tougher than others.  Some of it is caused by bad choices, but some of it is just hard luck and tough times.  When you ask someone where they stay and they answer "I sleep outside the Baptist church" or "I stay over there by the self-storage place" it is hard to know what to say.  There are whole families that came, and it is heart breaking to see kids in this circumstance. I also realize how blessed I am, in so many ways, and I know I am no more or less deserving than all of those people in the park.  I struggle with what to do with that. 

One of the ladies I met was Maddie, we talked for a while and I asked if I could pray for her, she asked me to " pray for all of the homeless people, because no one should have to live like this." Well said Maddie.  May God bless and keep every one of you tonight wherever your heads come to rest.