Bucket O' Blessings

This morning I am headed to a local homeless shelter for pregnant women, their newborn babies and toddlers.  A wonderful group of ladies is joining me and we are going to tackle cleaning the shelter house top to bottom.  It never ceases to amaze me how God provides the hands and in our case also the supplies.  An angel dropped by my house today and filled our Hope Chest with a bucket filled with cleaning supplies and a mop!

Today we do more than clean a shelter, today we bless a home for women and their children who are experiencing crisis.  Imagine yourself beginning your family alone and in a shelter instead of a home.  Today we bless this shelter home for the women God will send this way.  The women who right now might be discovering they are pregnant; who are preparing to leave a violent domestic situation so their children can grow up in peace instead of chaos; the women who thought they had someone who loved and supported them and found out suddenly they do not; the women who had a decent job and a place to live and then went on bed rest without health insurance; the women whose spouse died suddenly, tragically and/or unexpectedly and was the sole financial provider for the family. 

Today we bless this house as an altar in the world so that when these women come through the door they feel God's all encompassing and loving embrace surround them.  Cleaning may not seem like a blessing but I would ask you to challenge that thought.  Barbara Taylor Bradford writes about her experience of the sacred when cleaning a toilet in "Altar In The World" and I have on occasion shared my own story of the baptismal sacredness of doing the dishes for my family.

All moments in our life are sacred, each moment a gift from God,

to be enjoyed and blessed for the glory of God.

Please today, take a sacred moment and lift up a prayer to God for all women who are pregnant and/or new mothers who find themselves without a home and the resources to care for their children.  Pray in thanksgiving for new life and new hope.

"May God protect you from every danger you face.  May God give you the strength and courage to take failure, not as a measure of your worth, but as a chance for a new start.  May prosperity come your way, so that you are free from worry about food and drink, about home and shelter, but May you never be so caught up in material things that you forget that the essence of life lies not in possessions or money, but in love, and in God.  May you find fulfillment in whatever you choose to do.  May you use your talents to serve in the way that God intends you to, helping your fellow humans and walking in the light of God.  May you fully love and may you be fully loved.  May you be a source of light and inspiration to your family and friends, and may they be the same to you.  May you be forever comforted by a strong and enduring faith in God, who created you and who sustains your life." Amen!

(these are excerpts of a prayer written by Ms. Elizabeth K. Camp "Blessing for a Child" and published in the book "Women's Uncommon Prayers; our lives revealed, nurtured, celebrated".  Consult the book for a full version of this beautiful prayer.)

Stranger In My House

There are nights when I come home from the shelter and I feel as though I am in the wrong place.  I pull into my driveway as if going to a strangers home.  Open the front door as if I am housesitting.  Walk through the rooms on the main level calculating how many people could be sheltered for a night.  Envisioning cooking a family dinner for all, hearing the musical noise of laughter and conversation, hearing the heartbeat of prayer through thanksgiving and petition.  It seems eerily quiet.  I feel absurd and extravagant.  I want to get back in my car and drive back to the shelter.  I miss the ladies already, I miss their children.  I want to sit and talk about nothing and everything. 

The whole ride home tonight I thought about the things I didn't say.  I prayed before I walked into the shelter tonight, Lord give me the words you would have me say.  Either God didn't have much to say or I didn't listen well.  But it is my first night back at this particular shelter in awhile, all new faces, all new stories.  They don't know me yet, not sure if they want to know me, not sure who I am or what I might be to them.  It felt like coming home.  It felt real to sit and watch the news with some of them and every story was tied into the current economic situation.  Every woman in that room understands the reality of the economic situation much more than the person reading the script on tv.

Have you ever made the comment, "I feel like I live in my car!" or "Don't mind my messy car I have been living in it lately."  I have made that comment - especially on weeks where I truly am nothing more than a shuttle service or activity bus.  I make the comment in jest and absentminded.  I was reminded of that comment tonight as I walked into the shelter and I passed the cars of the guests.  I know homeless people who have cars and they store all their valuables in their car - they don't want them stolen in the shelter.  But I also know homeless people who live in their cars.  One car tonight told the story of a life.  She couldn't have crammed one more item in the car.  All her possessions in this world are in that car - her most precious possession and love recently had been sleeping in that car. 

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to live in your vehicle?  Where do you park for the night?  Where is it safe from crime?  Where is it safe from the authorities who might arrest you for trespassing?  Do you really sleep or are you on high alert?  What about the bathroom?  Where do you clean up and get ready for your day?  In the heat how do you stay cool?  In the cold how do you stay warm?  What if you have kids?  Where do they do their homework?  How do you wash their clothes?  Can you keep any food?  I recently read a newspaper article about a family of 6 living in their minivan.  Where they lived there were no family shelters and they didn't want to be separated - not now, when they had lost everything, all they have is each other and they didn't want to lose that too.  I worked with a family last year who ended up homeless, living in their car.  You see when they became homeless they had a beloved pet cat - you can't bring your pet into the shelter.  To get a spot in the shelter they had to give their cat up for adoption.  They decided to keep their cat and live in their car, once a week if they could they would stay in a motel for the night so they could shower and wash clothes and sleep laying down.

How do you get mail?  Where do you keep your birth certificate safe?  How much gas do you need?  What do you do to pass the time?  How would you entertain your children?  What if you have a medical condition that requires electricity?

One of my daughters this weekend complained to me that she has the smallest room, no bigger than a closet she said.  She was quite distraught and trying to figure out how to get siblings to move around so she could exchange rooms.  I almost could not even partake of the conversation with her because all I could think about was the story of the little girl who glowed with pride over her new bedroom.  You see she had been living in her car and her mother was finally able to get into a 1 bedroom apartment.  This little girls' new bedroom was the closet in the one bedroom.  Her bed was a sleeping bag on the floor and she had two books and her baby doll placed proudly near her "bed".  She took pride in her "room" and in her mother for providing it for her.  Oh the painful dichotomy!  Where is the true Joy?  The child who has so much she doesn't realize what she has or the child who knows what little she has is so much more than she can ask or imagine?

It brings back the imagery of our hands - when our hands are full we can not grasp anything more, when are hands are empty they can be filled with abundance.  With full hands we still try to grasp and hold on and things fall out and we fall to our knees to try and grab the items.  When our hands are empty we realize how light and burden free we are and we are amazed how how much can be gathered into our arms and if we fall to our knees it is in Thanksgiving to the One who provides.

Tonight I am a stranger in my house, carrying with me in my heart each woman and child who finds safety in the shelter tonight.  I open my outstretched hands and offer up to the Lord my prayers for them knowing that God will answer my prayers as may be best for each woman and the family that she represents.  I pray in thanksgiving for this home that would fit many and I ask forgiveness for the fact that I only house my family tonight.  If you ever find yourself breaking the commandment do not covet your neighbors house, spend an evening at the shelter.  Your evening of service will open your eyes to the abundant life you live and you will praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Who Better?

Once a month the church where I serve sends a team of cooks to one of the shelters where I serve.  They come and prepare a meal and sit down and eat and fellowship with the current clients of the 89 day emergency shelter.  Last evening I met a couple of new people.  Once again I met a lady who had been trying to live in this county, working hard, living paycheck to paycheck and making ends meet.  Until one day she got the phone call that the landlord she had been paying rent to had NOT been paying the mortgage on the condo she was renting.  She had 20 days notice that she would be evicted.  This story is becoming more and more prevalent; landlords who are not keeping up with their payments to the bank and renters who have no idea the property they are renting is in foreclosure.  She is one of the luckier ones as she found out before the sheriffs office arrived at her front door to post a notice; usually you only have a couple of days when that happens.  She had a couple of weeks to come up with a plan and was able to get on the waiting list at the emergency shelter. 

Who better to tell their story than the homeless person himself?  And in a lot of cities such as Washington, DC and Philadelphia you can find newspapers written by the homeless about homelessness.  In fact, just recently a homeless man won an international award for his writing contributions.  If you want to know how someone became homeless - ask them.  If you want to know how they feel about being homeless - ask them.  If you want to know how you can help them - ask them.  Who better to share their story?

Walk For Shelter - part 2

Beautiful day, wonderful turnout.

268 people came out to raise awarness for the growing homeless population in our county. Now to get my apartment building! ;-) Sometimes people just need to know they have a friend, sometimes they just need some cash to get gas so they can get to work, sometimes they need a hand up out of their despair. We can share in our abundance - if you have clothes on your back and dinner on your table, you have abundance. Let's keep walking!

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You're on your own, and you know what you know.

And you are the one who'll decide where you'll go.

Oh the places you'll go.

--Dr. Seuss



Walk For Shelter

Today I am participating in a local Walk For Shelter to benefit the local homeless shelter organization which I volunteer with.  I am looking forward to the walk and am praying that whomever God wants to participate is there.  I pray this is an opportunity to raise awareness for the invisible epidemic in our community - homelessness.

I live in one of the richest counties in the US - according to some surveys and magazine articles.  While I understand this to be true I also know this means there is an ever deepening gap of disparity between those who have abundantly and those who have nothing.  And I mean nothing.  I work with men and women who are homeless.  I sit down with the very people who are living in their cars, living in tents, renting extended stay hotel rooms when they can get some money together, living in shelters when there is room for them, living less than one paycheck from being evicted, living in the throes of foreclosure and having no utilities for the past 6 months.

The face of homelessness has changed.  The face of homelessness is children, it is families.  I was watching the news the last 2 evenings, 41% of Americans are living at or below the national poverty level - which is UNDER $22,000 for a family of four per year.  And the statistic is believed to be higher because there are many areas in our country where the cost of living is higher than this amount of money can support.  Honestly when I heard this I thought where are these people living on $22,000/year for a family of 4?  In my county you couldn't even rent an apartment for that for a year.  Much less turn on the lights, have a phone for emergencies, provide food and clothing and transportation needs.  Let's not even talk about school supplies, medications for illness.

In a local paper about a week ago there was an editorial note written by someone who was bemoaning the fact that they could not walk down a certain street in one of our downtown areas without having to pass by day laborers on the sidewalk.  When I read that all I could think about was the fact that the writer could be a person who hires day laborers without even knowing it and instead of bemoaning the fact that they are hoping for a days work so they can hopefully provide for their family, she bemoans she has to share the sidewalk with them.

A majority of the homeless I work with have jobs.  You try working for minimum wage and supporting yourself - much less a family.  Many of them are degreed professionals who have recently lost their job and haven't been able to find a new one.  Every person I have met wants to work and is actively searching and trying to work. 

I think what has happened is we have labeled homeless people as "HOMELESS" people - instead of labeling them "PEOPLE" who find themselves homeless.  Ponder that.  If we think about and talk about a label for a group, it is much easier to walk away, not participate in actively loving our neighbor as ourselves and looking the other way and in the deepest part of our hearts praying it will never be us or in the shallowest part of our hearts "knowing" that will never happen to us, we wouldn't let that happen.  But what if every homeless person has a story?  What if every homeless person was once a small child with a dream?  What if every homeless person was just you and just me, the only difference being shelter for tonight?

I have met women with children who were married for more than 15 years.  They made life choices with their husbands to stay at home with the kids.  They live in a nice house that they are renting because they haven't decided which neighborhood they want to settle into as they are new to the area for about a year.  One day their husband comes home and says "I have been meaning to tell you - I don't love you, I am not sure I ever have, I met someone else, I do love her.  I am leaving you, tonight.  I am living with her.  By the way she doesn't like kids and well you do fine with our kids, so they can't come and live with me, nor can they visit.  I will stop by when I can to see them.  Oh and she and I want to spend more time together, we are going to travel a bit.  I am quitting my job, so I can no longer provide financially for you or the kids.  Bye."  Can you say shock and devastation.  But imagine then being this woman and receiving a certified letter from the bank informing her of eviction because her landlord to whom she has been paying rent every month - has not been paying the mortgage on the house and it is being foreclosed.  Can you imagine?

Maybe I should start a blog series just on the real face of homelessness, because this is only one story.  Over 600 people were turned away from shelter last year alone, in my county alone.  Those are 600 more stories to share.  There are soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, there are families who are intact but find out there are no operational family shelters and so they must separate to be allowed in the shelters, there are those who find employment but can't get back to the shelter in time for lock-up at night and so can't come into the shelter or have to quit their job to be allowed in the shelter.  There are those who are suffering life threatening illnesses who can't get adequate medication or the proper food to sustain their health.  And did you know that around 50% of the children who age out of foster care (meaning they have not been adopted by age 18 and the state cuts off any support at age 18) end up homeless?

I dream of an apartment building.  I pray to God for an apartment building.  It needs to be in the heart of things - walking distance to jobs, walking distance to grocery stores, walking distance to bus transportation.  I would have a computer center, a job skills center, a bank and financial planner, a daycare, a small free clinic, an open kitchen and dining room for communal meals, a chapel, education rooms for ESL classes and life-skills and parenting classes.  I would have AA, NA and Al-anon meeting rooms.  I would have a set of apartments for homeless: singles, family, elderly.  I would have transitional apartments for those who are ready to move into their own place but still need some time to establish their address, their credit, to sustain the good work they have begun rebuilding their life.  I would then have graduate apartments that are affordable as people build up a savings account and work towards renting or buying their own home.  I keep praying.  It is a big prayer, it is overwhelming and exciting to think of the answered prayer.

I have met people who are homeless who only meet me because they are finally ready to ask for help.  I have found that is the hardest part for many people.  Asking for help.  Some people try to keep up appearances of being "just fine".  The man who doesn't tell his wife he lost his job until the sheriff shows up at the door with the eviction notice.  The woman who doesn't tell her kids her hours were cut back and she lost her benefits because she is no longer full-time until they are so sick and they want to go to the doctor and she can't take them.

I could go on and on.  I am just beginning to shed light on why I am so passionate and I am beginning to understand why God is calling me to minister with my homeless friends.  They are me and I am them.  We are the same.  From dust we came and to dust we shall return and in the journey of this life we should all be afforded an opportunity for a decent wage for decent work, shelter to keep us safe, food to sustain our bodies, access to health care when needed, access to education, dignity and respect and opportunity to worship God, coming to Him as we are, where we are so that He might love us.  We all deserve to be seen.  No one deserves to be the invisible among us.

"I have written your name on my hand."  Isaiah 49:16