My Life Without: Some Things I'm Learning

1. This really has been the #1 thing. I don't think the best place to minister to the homeless is from the same place that they're at. I don't think it's true for anybody, and certainly, I have been designed to minister from a place of health, as one who's pulling others up - from homelessness, from chains, from unbelief, from pain, from sin.

2. I knew this, but it's hit me hard. I need to minister in a community. I don't do well on my own. I feel like I should be the type of person who is capable of ministering alone, but I don't. Perhaps I should be. Perhaps I will be. Quite a few days left.

3. I don't like being the social outcast. As a homeless person, I am. Some people sit in the background, I'm brought out by others to the foreground and mocked.

4. The culture here is way different. I have connected well with a lot of homeless people in Eau Claire at the free clinic, under the bridge, on the street, and at my house. This is different. Even just the dialect differences can make communication extremely difficult for me. I don't know what the heck people are saying, especially when they have a lot of vodka in them.

5. Homeless shelters should have a list of local homeless shelters and what they provide to hand out to people. In addition, these lists should have maps of the local streets and where stuff is at. I spent a night on the street and two days without food because I didn't have anything like this. Neon lights aren't a bad idea either.

6. Volunteers are generally loved. Not always, but most people take very well to them and appreciate what they're giving them. It's like an english professor giving you compliments on a paper, a pro football player offering to help you improve your skills, a rich person volunteering to give you sincere help on how to make more money. The person receiving the food (or whatever) feels privileged.

7. People need a step-up, they all seem to think that they need a step up. For each person it's different. One person thinks he needs transportation, another to be given a job. The problem, however, is not a lack of resources, but a lack of motivation and desire. They want the wrong things. Pretty typical human issue. Honestly, even at the place I'm at, just a bed for a night, I'm pretty sure that in a couple of weeks I could get a job and in a month to a month and a half be out of there. I have the motivation. I have the ability to dream bigger. I have the determination. Again we find it's not the external, but the internal that is the primary causes of the problem. May God come through and defeat sin, defeat Satan.

8. Homelessness is not a bunch of people that need jobs. It's the result of so many other social issues. Employment options. Mental Illness. Alcoholism. Drugs. Gangs. Social Pressure. Wrong Beliefs About Self. Family Inheritance. Lie-pervaded Christianity. Love Himself needs to come and shine throughout every aspect of the city. I've asked Him to come, and He says He's on His way. Anyone wanna join Him with me?