God will provide

 “I tell you this: Do not worry about your life. Do not worry about what you are going to eat and drink. Do not worry about what you are going to wear. Is not life more important than food? Is not the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds in the sky. They do not plant seeds. They do not gather grain. They do not put grain into a building to keep. Yet your Father in heaven feeds them! Are you not more important than the birds? Which of you can make himself a little taller by worrying?  Why should you worry about clothes? Think how the flowers grow. They do not work or make cloth. But I tell you that Solomon in all his greatness was not dressed as well as one of these flowers. God clothes the grass of the field. It lives today and is burned in the stove tomorrow. How much more will He give you clothes? You have so little faith! Do not worry. Do not keep saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘What will we wear?’ 

Matthew 6:25-31 New Life Version 

 A few weeks ago our local high school approached our church asking for donations of backpacks and supplies for homeless students in our school district. The small group of us who first heard this was taken aback. Homeless kids in our town? How was that possible? Our town is not a big city where homeless men drink from brown paper bags under train trestles or abused young mothers herd their toddlers into women’s shelters. I live in “small town America”. There are no homeless people here.

Yet, looking back, though I don’t know of any homeless adults in my life, I could name a half dozen high school kids who at one time would have been classified as homeless. For whatever reason, they were no longer welcomed in their own homes, the adults who were responsible for them no longer wanted them or these kids just couldn’t remain in the household. 

It’s tough enough being a teen-ager, but to not know which friend’s house you are going to crash at tonight or if you can sneak back into your parent’s house after they are in bed. I can’t imagine.

Please pray for these kids – I bet that you have them in your community as well. Get involved, donate to your homeless shelter, work at your local food pantry. Be aware of who is walking the streets of your town. If you get the chance, remind them that they have a Father who would never turn them out and one day a home in heaven where they can find rest. 

Las Vegas: The Ugly

Living in a small town my whole life, I realize that I have been sheltered from a lot of ugliness in this world. Go to any big city anywhere in the world, and you will find the homeless on the corners and panhandlers in the streets. And the more tourists that a city caters to, the more beggars it attracts as well.

With all its lights and all the money thrown about on gaming and shows, Las Vegas has a high unemployment rate and its share of vagrants. Walk the Strip after sundown and it seems as if the homeless and the jobless come crawling out of where ever they spend their days.

A few of them will be playing the guitar or providing some sort of music. Every night that we were there, a woman without legs was propped against a cement wall somewhere playing the accordion and singing. Her accordion playing was ok, the singing not so much. Others don’t seem to really care, don’t seem to even want to try. They will be sitting on a walk-way with a sign saying, “Too lazy to work, need money for beer” or something similarly inspiring.

What would it be like to be homeless, without a job or any prospects? Do these people have no friends or family who would be able to help them out, or have they exhausted that kind of hospitality? Have they made a string of bad decisions that have led to this point of no return?

I think back to when I was divorced and struggling to make the house payment, the car payment, and pay the day care. I was so blessed to have a job and have family able to float me the occasional loan. What if I didn’t have that advantage? How close was I to living on the streets with my kids? In all honestly, not that close. But truly, all it takes is one catastrophe for any of us to be that close.