 Home. We
Take It For Granted.
Working with the homeless is helping me appreciate home. I am learning "home" is
much more than a shelter; its an identity. It provides security, refuge, peace and even
opportunity. Without a home, none of these are possible.
After three weeks of work, Bo is off the streets. He has an apartment, a "home."
He has been living on the streets for four years. He is not a bad guy, drug addict, child
molester, or criminal. He is a guy who gradually lost all he had. He lost his job, then
his car, then his home, then his mother. He found himself hopelessly stranded on the
streets. "The winters are the worst," said Bo. "They take the life right
out of you; you lose all hope, all dignity, all your purpose."
He has a "home" now. We moved him in yesterday. He kept saying he needed to
pinch himself, he could not believe it was true. One old mattress, an old plastic lawn
chair, two blankets, one skillet, one pan, two bowls, two spoons and one fork--that is
about all he has other than the three shirts and the one pair of pants he owns. The
apartment looked really empty, but it was "home."
We prayed together to ask God to bless his new "home." When we
finished he commented that he would like to be able to pray as I do. He said he felt like
I really knew the one I was talking to and he really wanted to know him also. I assured
him that was my desire also, and we would work on that. I guess that is really what
Carpenter's church is all about. Helping people find "home," helping them find a
place of security, dignity, peace, and hope. Is not that what the church should be:
Helping them find "home" in Jesus? Loving them right where they are? Helping
them with their hurts and needs? Taking them by the hand and leading them
"home”?
Many of you may have seen Bo and me as we wandered the halls of Broadway. He has seen you.
He comments each time we leave about how nice people are to him when he is at Broadway.
One day he even mentioned a different kind of spirit and atmosphere around Broadway. I
assured him that was the spirit of Christ, the atmosphere of "home." I think he
likes it.
That is what we are all about. That's missions: Helping people, wherever they are (Africa,
Peru, England, or North Overton),
find "home"; guiding them with a loving, helpful and compassionate hand to a
place of security, a place of peace and dignity; and guiding them to Jesus. That's home.
Pray for Bo and Tammy, Marion, Leo, Red, Baby, Warrner, Sylvia, Chris, Lenny, Cathy, Raul,
Catalina, and the list could go on and on. Pray for us as we work with them and try our
best, to lead them "home."
-Jim Beck
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