shout out loud

the people walking through the breakfast line at Midnight Mission have so much to be seen in their faces. what's superficial - dirt, glass eyes, mangled mouths, contorted kind smiles, bruises, scars, ugliness...then there's what's underneath - wisdom, fear, beauty, greed, abuse, sacrifice, addiction, confusion, warmth, evidence of grace, embarassment and gratitude. there's a roughness about these people that is difficult to describe without a tangible vision.
still, each of these emotions and attributes looked at individually seem easy enough to deal with. but for most of the people at the mission, one comes with another more twisted and hard to confront. they may each have that hardness about them that can only come from being so morbidly courageous and desperately weak, but they still have a story; one that is complex yet broken down to a simple theme -humanness. their stories bring some people to fear or hate, and others to tears and forward motion. but no matter what the outsiders looking in think, we cannot deny their humanity. setting religous beliefs aside, put away creation vs. evolution, people of the streets -dwelling in tents or sidewalks, under bridges or in shelters or cars....they are still validly human and deserve to be treated as such. just as much as you or i. but even more, for the Church, we ought to be believing that....no, living that.

last year my baby sister was treated with disrespect and unfairly ignored. no matter if she provoked the treatment, as a person she is worth being treated well. [the Beattitudes anyone?] random strangers, our closest friends or enemies....what separates us? more importantly, what makes us the same? what is the binding factor?

Saturday morning at Midnight Mission, it was undeniably obvious the similarities between all the people in the room. we all woke up early, we were all hungry and ready for breakfast, and we all were grateful for a warm place to be out of the rain for a moment...all simple human desires all felt by real people with basic needs.

i wonder sometimes why i care so much. why i am so passionately drawn to people who are lonely and desprate, ignored. i really don't know. but there is something deeply rooted in my being - i can feel it in my gut- that is like a magnet. pulling me to them, driving me to love them without reservations is this need to love...to recklessly abandon my other senses and just love. i'm probably crazy. but i am a lover and a fighter. and i will fight for broken people. for people without a voice, i love you. i believe in a good and perfect God for you. and i believe He is redeeming your story...and sometimes, He uses His people to do it....