why the homeless are homeless

So, lots of people judge homeless people.  Go get a job, they say.

So let me give you a little background.  Every church that I have ever attended in my life, and that is around 16 [I counted] every church that I have ever attended, helped the homeless, the marginalized.  We would load up our cars with stuff, drive to where they were, give them the stuff, and then drive back to where we lived, get out of our cars, and go back into our nice safe, air conditioned homes.

One of the things that I love about being a part of the church in Ft. Pierce, is that it is in old down town Ft. Pierce.  I see homeless people every day.  Some of them attend our church on Sunday [when we still had live worship before the pandemic.]  On my first Sunday at Ft. Pierce, during the greeting time, I turned around to shake hands and the guy behind me, clearly homeless, shook my hand and said, "hello, my name is Steve, welcome to my church."  I loved it.

Now, back to why most homeless are homeless.  This may not be true everywhere, but what I have seen of the folks that I have met at Ft. Pierce, 95% of them have some mental issue.  Low IQ, damage from drugs, fetal alcohol syndrome, who knows what else.  The few that remain are homeless for some other reason.  I had breakfast with one of the "guys" before the pandemic who is very normal [no mental issues] and he talked for an hour.  He told me his entire story.  It was heart breaking.  His story made the problems of my childhood sound like a fairy tale.  I can remember thinking.... I might be homeless and drifting if that was my story too.

Any way, let's not be so quick to judge those who are in the alleys, the parks and the gutter.  They may be there for no fault of their own.  The issue isn't whether or not they deserve help, the issue is that they need help.  For crying out loud it only cost me $3 to buy Steve breakfast.  It only cost me a sandwich.  It only cost me a little time.

Anyone who gives a cup of cold water in Jesus name will surely not lose their reward. Mark 9:41

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
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