Everyone has a Story...

"On the street I saw a small girl cold and shivering in a thin dress, with little hope of a decent meal. I became angry and said to God: 'Why did you permit this? Why don't you do something about it?' For a while God said nothing. That night he replied, quite suddenly: 'I certainly did something about it. I made you.'"

I once heard a story about a homeless man on Hollywood Blvd who really thought he was invisible. But one day a kid handed the man a Christian pamphlet. The homeless guy was shocked and amazed, “what! You can see me? How can you see me? I’m invisible!”

It isn’t hard to comprehend this man’s slow spiral into invisibility. Once on the street, people started to walk past him, ignoring him as if he didn’t exist… much like they do a piece of trash on the sidewalk. It’s not that people are bad, but if we make eye contact, or engage in conversation, then we have to admit they exist and that we might have a basic human need to care. But it’s so much easier to simply close our eyes and shield our hearts to their existence.

I not only feel their pain, I truly know their pain. I lived their pain. You’d never know it now but I was a homeless person. Fourteen years ago, I lived on Hollywood Blvd. But today, I find myself looking away, ignoring the faces, avoiding their eyes — and I’m ashamed when I realize I’m doing it. But I really can feel their pain, and it is almost unbearable, but it’s just under the surface of my professional exterior.

The invisible guy didn’t intend to become homeless. I didn’t plan on living on the street. Everyone on the streets has their own story, some made bad decisions, others were victims, but none of them deserve what they have been left with, and it is a reflection of our own society that we just leave them there.

Mark Horvath is a man on a mission. He came from a place of homelessness and then went back to document the stories of homeless men, women and children all around the country. The stories he has found break my heart. 

I wonder, if it weren't for him, would these people have had the opportunity to ever tell their story? Would the cold of the coming December nights or the burn of a hungry stomach take them before they could ever share? Some are homeless because of something they did. Many are homeless because of something that happened to them. Do we care? Or do we treat them like they are invisible?

If we truly serve a God of mercy and forgiveness, then may our hearts begin to break in a new way for those who need someone to come along and be their miracle.

...

Lesson for Today: Old friends, new joys.