Always Show Humanity

"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more to blessed to give than to receive.'" ACTS 19:32. When I come home for the Holiday's, my mom has me go with her to Loaves and Fishes to feed the hungry. Loaves and Fishes is a wonderful place in downtown Sacramento. It runs a school for homeless children, Mustard Seed, and it provides food and resources for the needy. My mom goes with our church every other Friday. As a child I remember my mom having me donate toys and books to the kids at the school. My mom would always say she can see the 'face of God' in their faces. Revisiting this place as an adult, I saw it too. When you go to this place, it is in the middle of a bunch of warehouses, most of them abandon. Many of the homeless live either in the abandon buildings, along the railroad tracks or the park nearby. Two years ago, my job in the food line was to scoop ice cream. The problem with the ice cream this particular day, was it didn't have time thaw enough to scoop. So the line was getting backed up as I struggled to get the ice cream scoop to work. Surprisingly, it was the workers that were annoyed with me and not the homeless. In fact the homeless were encouraging. Here they were, dirty, alone and waiting for their one meal of the day, telling me I was doing a great job scooping the ice cream and to take my time and not listen to the other people who were being quite sassy with me to hurry up. I also heard my mom engage in genuine conversations with them about music, or books as they passed through the line. I saw more humanity in them, then I see just walking around on a day to day basis. It is our duty as Christians to not forget the forgotten. But not only that, to treat them with respect. In order for someone to go homeless, a string of terrible events have had to happen. Many of us come from such loving families and/or situations where our struggle would hopefully never bring us to the streets. But a lot of us don't have that option. The homeless are not just a faction that we either donate a check too, or maybe half-heartledly serve a dinner too once a year. When you are in the process of giving back, give them a smile too. Try hear what they have to say. You never know what one encouraging word can do to someone's spirit. And always show humanity.