Tomorrow is MOVING DAY for Eric and I am so excited!
We've been working on getting him out of the woods for over a year. (He's been there for ten years.)
An honorably discharged veteran, we knew that he was at the top of the lists for every "Vulnerable Persons" report out there. The national coalition for homelessness targeted homeless veterans as the focus for 2015. Income or not, every veteran was to be housed.
Eric initially didn't care.
He'd lived in the woods so long that he wasn't sure he could acclimate back into society.
We didn't force the issue; we just kept sharing Jesus.
And our hot dogs.
Eleven months later, Eric was ready to venture out of the woods.
He was nervous and understandably so. He'd lived in a one-man tent for so long that even going to a restaurant was daunting.
But we took baby steps.
Two months later all of the paperwork has been done and he has a new apartment.
He's still a little nervous. He's afraid something will go wrong in the eleventh hour.
It's been two months of eleventh hours so I think we are finally good.
I'm excited.
I don't always get to see the fruits of my labor. I don't mind because I'd much rather store up my treasures in Heaven.
But this one is a bonus!
While no-one is looking, me and my two left feet will be doing the happy dance!
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
A HOW-TO GUIDE FOR HELPING THE HOMELESS
One of the questions I'm often asked is How do you know if you should help someone or not? Or What do I do when someone comes up to my window?
Sitting at red lights and on exit ramps, we become captive audiences for solicitations and panhandlers alike.
Many people give money and go on their way. Some will circle back with food. Some just stare straight ahead, eyes unflinching.
There's no right or wrong answer; you do what you feel led to do in those situations.
But sometimes you are approached at a gas station or in a parking lot with bigger needs and more elaborate stories.
This is where you need to be smart.
There are true people in need out there and we are commanded to help them.
That doesn't mean to take your kid's diaper money and give it to the beggar on the street corner. (I've seen that happen more times than I can count. The most generous ones are often the ones most in need themselves.)
Nor does it mean to skip winter coats for your kids and buy blankets for the homeless instead. (There's an abundance of churches and individuals at Christmastime who flood homeless camps and shelters with warm blankets and coats. If you have it to give, by all means, do so. Just don't take it out of your own family's basic needs.)
Now if the Lord tells you to do these things in faith, you should do them. But more often than not, when someone puts their own family in a bind to help others, it is a misguided attempt to serve the Lord through works.
Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Galatians 5:16
Yes, even doing good things, if not done in the Spirit, is fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.
Many times I've received calls from tearful moms in the community begging for help with formula or snacks. They'd felt so sorry for someone they saw under a bridge, and guilty that they had a home, that they'd given their grocery money for the week and were now in a bind.
I've gone to the store for some of those guys under the bridge before. They had more cash than I did. Some will even refuse money from a young mom they know is struggling.
Not many, though.
We now know what NOT to do, but what DO we do?
As I've said before, the standard answer is to be led by the Spirit. That makes any black and white instructions null and void.
But for the sake of my pragmatic side, I will give an example of a situation that happened to us just yesterday.
We were at the gas station, filling up. A guy pulled up to the pump next to ours and approached my husband in somewhat of a desperate tone. (Remember now that we have ministry signs of the side of our van saying SERVING CHRIST BY SERVING OTHERS.)
He needed help; his son had been in a bad car accident in New Orleans. (FYI, this is the 5th time we've heard a version of this car accident story in the last year. It is a popular one.)
He left Alabama so frantically that he'd forgotten to grab his wallet. He was just trying to get some gas to get to his son.
I was listening through the car window; my husband Dale was pumping gas.
While Dale became more unconvinced as the story went on, I was the opposite.
This guy is in his 50's or 60's. He's too old to be scamming. (Yes, I know...even I laughed at my own naivety later on.)
Dale sat in the car and asked what I wanted to do.
I wanted to get gas for him. Plain and simple.
But I wasn't going to just give him cash.
We'd already sponsored the habits of the two sisters earlier in the week. (One of which had a boyfriend running their scam we found out yesterday.)
So I went inside.
I put $20 on his pump and walked back to tell him.
"Um, this car is new so if it doesn't take all $20, will it go back on your credit card?"
Um, I know gas has dropped but not that much so if your empty tank can't take $20 we might have a problem with your story...
"I paid cash," I told him. "I'll just wait here until you pump it to make sure it takes it all."
He hung the nozzle back up and sat down in his car.
"Are you okay?" I had my doubts, but I wanted to believe him, to believe he was just too upset to pump his gas. Even on the streets, I truly want to believe the best in people.
I started to pump the gas myself.
"No! No! Don't do that! Look!" he exclaimed as he held up his wallet. "I found my wallet. I must've grabbed it after all. I can get my own gas. You go get your money back."
"Are you sure?" I was prepared to still pay for the gas, but he had become like a caged animal and couldn't escape fast enough.
"No. No," he repeated. "You go get your money."
The second I headed back into the store, he tore out of the parking lot.
Nearby drivers, having heard the exchange, began murmuring.
"He didn't want the gas after you paid for it?"
"That was weird."
One guy, standing next to a propped-up hood, laughed and hollered, "Hey, I'm waiting on my wife to get here if you want to help me!"
I laughed and just shook my head.
I wouldn't have minded spending that $20 to help. Even if it WAS my last $20. But I would've been wrong to just hand him the cash.
When we get someone a bus ticket, we take them all the way to the bus station, pay for the ticket, and sit until they leave. It's too tempting to hold on to the cash.
I watched a young man spend 6 months in Tent City and 2 months in jail before he made it home to New Jersey because every time someone sent him money for a bus ticket, he'd spend it on drugs.
It seems a little Big Brother, I know.
But would you go buy someone a bag of marijuana, a crack rock, or some spice and hand it to them if you saw them holding a sign?
Because nine times out of ten, when you hand them cash, you're doing the same thing.
Be wise.
Benevolent, but wise.
Sitting at red lights and on exit ramps, we become captive audiences for solicitations and panhandlers alike.
Many people give money and go on their way. Some will circle back with food. Some just stare straight ahead, eyes unflinching.
There's no right or wrong answer; you do what you feel led to do in those situations.
But sometimes you are approached at a gas station or in a parking lot with bigger needs and more elaborate stories.
This is where you need to be smart.
There are true people in need out there and we are commanded to help them.
That doesn't mean to take your kid's diaper money and give it to the beggar on the street corner. (I've seen that happen more times than I can count. The most generous ones are often the ones most in need themselves.)
Nor does it mean to skip winter coats for your kids and buy blankets for the homeless instead. (There's an abundance of churches and individuals at Christmastime who flood homeless camps and shelters with warm blankets and coats. If you have it to give, by all means, do so. Just don't take it out of your own family's basic needs.)
Now if the Lord tells you to do these things in faith, you should do them. But more often than not, when someone puts their own family in a bind to help others, it is a misguided attempt to serve the Lord through works.
Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Galatians 5:16
Yes, even doing good things, if not done in the Spirit, is fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.
Many times I've received calls from tearful moms in the community begging for help with formula or snacks. They'd felt so sorry for someone they saw under a bridge, and guilty that they had a home, that they'd given their grocery money for the week and were now in a bind.
I've gone to the store for some of those guys under the bridge before. They had more cash than I did. Some will even refuse money from a young mom they know is struggling.
Not many, though.
We now know what NOT to do, but what DO we do?
As I've said before, the standard answer is to be led by the Spirit. That makes any black and white instructions null and void.
But for the sake of my pragmatic side, I will give an example of a situation that happened to us just yesterday.
We were at the gas station, filling up. A guy pulled up to the pump next to ours and approached my husband in somewhat of a desperate tone. (Remember now that we have ministry signs of the side of our van saying SERVING CHRIST BY SERVING OTHERS.)
He needed help; his son had been in a bad car accident in New Orleans. (FYI, this is the 5th time we've heard a version of this car accident story in the last year. It is a popular one.)
He left Alabama so frantically that he'd forgotten to grab his wallet. He was just trying to get some gas to get to his son.
I was listening through the car window; my husband Dale was pumping gas.
While Dale became more unconvinced as the story went on, I was the opposite.
This guy is in his 50's or 60's. He's too old to be scamming. (Yes, I know...even I laughed at my own naivety later on.)
Dale sat in the car and asked what I wanted to do.
I wanted to get gas for him. Plain and simple.
But I wasn't going to just give him cash.
We'd already sponsored the habits of the two sisters earlier in the week. (One of which had a boyfriend running their scam we found out yesterday.)
So I went inside.
I put $20 on his pump and walked back to tell him.
"Um, this car is new so if it doesn't take all $20, will it go back on your credit card?"
Um, I know gas has dropped but not that much so if your empty tank can't take $20 we might have a problem with your story...
"I paid cash," I told him. "I'll just wait here until you pump it to make sure it takes it all."
He hung the nozzle back up and sat down in his car.
"Are you okay?" I had my doubts, but I wanted to believe him, to believe he was just too upset to pump his gas. Even on the streets, I truly want to believe the best in people.
I started to pump the gas myself.
"No! No! Don't do that! Look!" he exclaimed as he held up his wallet. "I found my wallet. I must've grabbed it after all. I can get my own gas. You go get your money back."
"Are you sure?" I was prepared to still pay for the gas, but he had become like a caged animal and couldn't escape fast enough.
"No. No," he repeated. "You go get your money."
The second I headed back into the store, he tore out of the parking lot.
Nearby drivers, having heard the exchange, began murmuring.
"He didn't want the gas after you paid for it?"
"That was weird."
One guy, standing next to a propped-up hood, laughed and hollered, "Hey, I'm waiting on my wife to get here if you want to help me!"
I laughed and just shook my head.
I wouldn't have minded spending that $20 to help. Even if it WAS my last $20. But I would've been wrong to just hand him the cash.
When we get someone a bus ticket, we take them all the way to the bus station, pay for the ticket, and sit until they leave. It's too tempting to hold on to the cash.
I watched a young man spend 6 months in Tent City and 2 months in jail before he made it home to New Jersey because every time someone sent him money for a bus ticket, he'd spend it on drugs.
It seems a little Big Brother, I know.
But would you go buy someone a bag of marijuana, a crack rock, or some spice and hand it to them if you saw them holding a sign?
Because nine times out of ten, when you hand them cash, you're doing the same thing.
Be wise.
Benevolent, but wise.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Mexico Calls for Euthanasia of Homeless Folks
Okay, so I took a page out of the salacious media's playbook by posting a SLIGHTLY misleading headline. It's not the entire Mexican government wanting to conduct mercy killings.
But there is a Mexican councilor who went on record saying she believed homeless people should be put to death.
She thinks that's the most humane thing we can do for them.
"Yes, they are a little crazy, but they're harmless. Which is why I think to myself, wouldn't it be kinder to just give them a lethal injection?" Olga Guiterrez Machorro suggested.
Ironically, Marchurro is the chairman of the Commission for Vulnerable Groups in Tecamachalco, Puebla.
Not surprisingly, her remarks were met with anger.
Including my own.
But then I read several different accounts of this story.
And I'm not entirely sure that her comments weren't taken out of context.
She complained about homeless folks being sent to psychiatric hospitals and then released in the middle of busy highways if they were found to be not dangerous. Many ended up being run over by passing cars.
Is it possible she was being a little facetious making her controversial statement following her complaints about the treatment of mentally ill homeless people?
Yes, she should've known better but knowing how sarcastic I can be at times, I could see this easily happening to me.
Of course, I don't KNOW that she was misinterpreted. She may have been serious about euthanizing homeless folk. I don't know.
I do know the media, however.
So I'm giving her the benefit of doubt.
The bottom line is, there are a lot of mentally ill people on the streets and we are failing them as a society. Here in the United States, in Mexico, and around the world. We need to find a solution.
One that doesn't involve murder.
But there is a Mexican councilor who went on record saying she believed homeless people should be put to death.
She thinks that's the most humane thing we can do for them.
"Yes, they are a little crazy, but they're harmless. Which is why I think to myself, wouldn't it be kinder to just give them a lethal injection?" Olga Guiterrez Machorro suggested.
Ironically, Marchurro is the chairman of the Commission for Vulnerable Groups in Tecamachalco, Puebla.
Not surprisingly, her remarks were met with anger.
Including my own.
But then I read several different accounts of this story.
And I'm not entirely sure that her comments weren't taken out of context.
She complained about homeless folks being sent to psychiatric hospitals and then released in the middle of busy highways if they were found to be not dangerous. Many ended up being run over by passing cars.
Is it possible she was being a little facetious making her controversial statement following her complaints about the treatment of mentally ill homeless people?
Yes, she should've known better but knowing how sarcastic I can be at times, I could see this easily happening to me.
Of course, I don't KNOW that she was misinterpreted. She may have been serious about euthanizing homeless folk. I don't know.
I do know the media, however.
So I'm giving her the benefit of doubt.
The bottom line is, there are a lot of mentally ill people on the streets and we are failing them as a society. Here in the United States, in Mexico, and around the world. We need to find a solution.
One that doesn't involve murder.
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