I recently finished reading Under the Overpass, by Mike Yankoski. A few years old, but a great read. As college students, Mike and his friend Sam take their guitars, thrift store backpacks and sleeping bags, and the clothes on their back and set out to experience the life of the homeless in America. In 5 months or so, they travel through 6 different US cities, living on the streets and encountering many unique individuals. The book chronicles their journey and the people they meet, as well as the reactions they receive from various churches along the way. Below are some quotes from the book. Hope you'll pick up a copy...
Out attitudes of entitlement need to be replaced by attitudes of thankfulness.
Something critical is missing in places that care for the broken and needy if the only people there are the broken and needy... If we are the body of Christ – and Christ came not for the healthy but the sick – we need to be fully present in the places where people are most broken. And it has to be more than just a financial presence. That helps, of course. But too often money is insulation, it conveniently keeps us from ever having to come face-to-face with a man or woman whose life is in tatters.
When we're willing to get down to eating together, listening and talking the truth together, cleaning together, peeling potatoes together, the Gospel comes alive.
Maybe the reason so many people, Christians included, are so discontent is that we hold too elevated an idea of comfort, too grandiose a notion of pleasure.
One of the best things about the gospel is that Jesus Christ proclaims and restores human and eternal worth for everyone who believes – regardless of what a person might look or smell like now, no matter what's crawling through his hair. And because we follow this Christ, each of us has both the ability and the responsibility to do the same.
The more committed we become to impacting one person at a time, the more we'll prepare our hearts and our churches to respond on both a community level and on a national level.
What would we do during the day or in our lives for God if we weren't concerned with what we wear, what we eat, where we sleep, what we own, what people think of us, or what discomforts we face?
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