the darkness
there is a man my family knows who is going through a really rough time. hes been on and off homeless for several years now, its just heartbreaking for my overly-sensitive family. another family who regulary helps this man out has told me that they believe he has a drug problem as well, further adding to the cycle of poverty and ruin. where does one draw the line from "im helping a brother out" to "im being taken advantage of"? on one particularly cold day we found out that he slept outside in a dumpster here in town all night. my dad and the pastor of his church got together and got him a hotel for the week. the end of this week is the end of the hotel room and i think my family is considering possibly extending that stay if he cant find anywhere else to go. he has a job but he's only worked there a month and thus not enough money even to get started on government housing. though that might be in the works soon. i called my friend Jimmy today who works with our church's "fruit of the Vine" ministry, a food pantry/homeless ministry for those in need. hopefully it will work out that i can help get him into a shelter or somehow get some help for him if he has no place to stay at the end of the week. there is a housing program available through the church also but there are some rules (no drugs of any kind, no drinking, must have a job, be persuing a life off the streets, etc.) i really want this to work, not for my own sake so that i might lay medals across my chest, but because everyone deserves dignity and their basic human needs met. and if there is a need and someone has the ability to step in and help, i believe that it is our obligation as part of the human family that God created to do so.
goodness still exists.
there is no darkness so dark that God's love cannot illuminate it