Lessons from Homeless Ministry

I stayed up most of last night as the "watchman" and all-around servant for a group of nearly 30 folks who at present have no where to stay but in the sanctuaries and classrooms of willing churches who provide a warm place to sleep as temps outside reach -10 to -20 and lower with wind chills.

What did I learn from this brief stint (which for me is basically a once-a-year service) in ministry of compassion to the homeless?

• I don't like the homeless. Every year as I approach this yearly commitment there is dread and fear lurking in the shadows of my mind/emotions. Why? I wonder if I will have some of the whiney, "entitlement" folks who make this service a real challenge. I wonder how tired and weird I will feel after staying awake all night. I wonder if someone will get sick. Will there be a fight? Will they press me to "bend" the rules like someone inevitably does? I guess the real reason I don't like the homeless is that they are a challenge to the reality of my profession of belonging to Christ and having the Spirit of love living within me. They take me out of my comfortable box where things are planned and controlled and "my way." They make me see my heart in a way that I do not like to see my heart.
• I CAN LOVE the homeless. Each year I learn once again that "like" and "love" are not the same thing. "Like" is a feeling of attraction whereas "Love" is a CHOICE to ACT for the GOOD of someone else. I can love someone I don't like. And guess what? When I choose to love I often start to like!! I can love because love is a choice made by faith and supplied by the Spirit of God. I have NOT been given a spirit of fear (timidity, shrinking back from) but the Spirit of power, love, and self-control (2Timothy 1:7). This means that when I am naturally ready to shrink back from a challenge like loving the homeless I can LEAN into the situation and the relationship and LOVE them. I can be kind, patient, good, and humble before them and to them as I rely on the Spirit of God. He DOES come through...every time.
• There is JOY in loving by faith. After I press through my dislike and fears to love these who are made in the image of God and loved deeply by Him...miracle of miracles, I am happy. I have joy. I feel replenished, not depleted. I have partnered with my Lord in His work. I have reached out and touched one of society's marginals and confirmed their dignity and humanness. I have asked questions about their life, their plans. I have prepared their food, I have required them to follow the good rules set down for this time. And in doing this I am filled with the Spirit and therefore am given the joy that is His fruit.
• Exercising faith leads to the desire to exercise more faith (Romans 1:17). After seeing the folks off this morning and cleaning up I had the experience of thinking about more challenges of faith in serving Christ. I was ready to step out in more and greater ways.

May the Lord grant us each one to be pressed beyond our comfort zones for the exercising of faith and love in serving others, in whatever capacity, with whatever gifts, for their good and God's glory and our growth.