When you see someone begging on the street, do you pass by without a glance? Do you drop a few coins into their cup? Do you offer them a meal? Do you simply have a conversation with them? The other night at dinner, I was wrestling with these ideas in my head. While talking with different people around my school, Moody Bible Institute, I got confused. Confusion, over the question should we give generously to the poor and the sick? As well as, what exactly does that mean?
I believe that we should give with what we have. Now this doesn’t have to be money, many of us don’t exactly have money to give. One idea is to go out and meet someone in need. Typically their need is something you can meet. For instance, I sat with my friend Alexander, a streetwise vendor at Millennium Park. After an hour of sitting with him, he mentioned how useful a water bottle is. So I asked him if he needed one. After a nod of his head, I offered mine to him. Alexander’s face lit up. For me, it was just a water bottle, but to him it seemed like so much more.
Relationships with the homeless becomes challenging then because they develop a dependency. So we need to avoid this dependency. One idea to solve this is in your approach. You can start by sitting down, and sharing a water bottle or sandwich. Just simply listen to them for fifteen minutes or more if the conversation is flowing well. The relationship needs to be established where there is a two way street, giving and receiving. Once this develops, if it does, then the process of giving is less likely to lead to a dependency relationship.
We each have extra clothes and food. We don’t need to make up excuses about why we shouldn’t give to the poor and homeless we see everyday. We can give what we don’t need the leftovers we throw away, the clothes we toss. There is so much extra stuff lying around. We are always upgrading our computers, phones, Ipods, and cars. What are we doing with the old devices? Maybe we can sell it for some money, and go buy someone a meal. Never make an excuse to not give away what were wasting.
-- JR , Picture at top is of a man named Shorty in downtown Chicago, taken summer of 2010 by my friend Rob Cook.
