Homeless

A few years ago I went on a mission trip to Seattle where I helped a ministry working with street kids in the area. While there I learned quite a lot about homelessness in America. Among all the details of what life is like on the street I learned two key things to look at if you are trying to tell if someone is truly homeless or just scamming for money.


#1 - The shoes. Someone who lives on the street will obviously not have money to buy new clothes. In addition they spend much of their days in their shoes, walking around. So a homeless person's shoes will likely be extremely worn and weathered. They will have many a hard mile on them.

#2 - The watch. Homeless people don't have watches. Why would they? It is unlikely they have to be anywhere at a precise time and any watch they had could be sold for much needed cash.

What a beautiful image of a Christian that paints. Shoes worn through from following God. They're beaten from the long journey but not broken. And no need to worry about hours or minutes. God will work all things according to His time, not ours.

Many of the people we worked with in Seattle were homeless due to circumstances not finances. They had run from abuse, had fallen prey to drugs and alcohol, or something else had pushed them out of their homes. So too we're homeless here in this world, far from our true home because of sin. But one day we can go home where we will be welcomed by our Heavenly Father and we can run barefoot on the streets of gold and ever minute will shine as bright as the sun.