Contagion

I just finished reading the book "Under the OverPass" and I gotta say it infuriated me. Why? Let me explain...

The book is about two guys who drop out of college and live on the streets as homeless guys for 5 months in 5 different cities in the states. It's very basic as it just chronicles their journey and shows their experience as they learn what it's like to be without food and shelter. They take no money and can only eat if they panhandle or find a rescue mission. They truly become homeless except for the fact that they can get out of it at any minute.

Now, what really ticks me off is that during their journey, they encounter myriads of church people and they are all idiots, minus a few. They just look at these two guys (if they even look) in utter disgust. The ironic thing is that these guys record that when they get these looks, most times these "Christians" are toting around their Bibles and discussing loving the world!

Here's the question...

Am I one of those idiots? When I see a homeless person, what's my first reaction? "Get a job! You're just going to buy drugs with this money! I work my tail off for this and you want to beg and get me to give it to YOU?!" Ever stopped to think that a homeless person might be a stronger follower of Jesus than you? The interesting thing is that I think most of us think that if we are really "following Jesus" we'll have our crap together (as in a job, clean clothes and won't stink).

Is that it? Who have we become? Do we even know what it means to be Christians? I'm not sure. We get so caught up in "going to church" and singing our songs and dressing in our nice clothes. We have food to eat. Showers to clean ourselves with. Beds to sleep in. Heat to keep us warm. Shoes for our feet. 500 different wardrobes to choose from. Jobs that pay us. Respect from the other "civilized people in the world".

WE'VE GOT SO MUCH! And yet, our lives still revolve around us! And you know why this infuriates me the most?! I think I'm the worst.

Check out another post here that talks about Loving the poor from a distance. Is it possible to love people from a distance? To send money but to never get on their level, in the dirt and participate in their world? To drop money in the guitar case but not sitting down beside the dude and experiencing the humiliation he has to face every day. To buy a meal for someone, drop it off and run instead of taking them into the restaurant, enduring the stares that they do and listening to their story.

Just a thought...