When I was growing up in Florida I didn’t see many druggies, homeless or mentally ill people. I heard about it. I didn’t see the problems plaguing the streets like I do today.
Growing up, we had food on the table. I never had name brand anything or tons of toys for Christmas, but we had a
turkey and good home cooking and laughter. I grew up noticing the little things that make life comforts full of joy and thankful to give moments like those to my family now too.
Proverbs 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
I never saw an addict overdose in the bathroom, or a homeless person defecating themselves…until now. I never saw tourists and even locals go out of their way to give these people food and blankets they had just bought, to then watch the homeless here leave the food uneaten, the trash on the ground and throw the blankets in the bushes never used. Until now. I never saw aggressive panhandlers following tourists begging for money and then cursing them when they don’t get it…until now. I never saw a group of homeless yelling in public and too drunk to even fight each other, until now.
I was in training at my place of employment in downtown Saint Augustine, and watched them as they fought over a baseball cap.
It was a baseball cap. Some things in life are so trivial until you see it for yourself. And then everything is a big deal.
When I see these people, I can’t help but think what childhood did they have? Were they abused? Do they have family looking for them? Do they have anyone who cares about them? If they have family, do they even know they are bumming off the streets addicted to heroin or other drugs?
I have however, seen homeless thankful for a cup of coffee. I have seen them take resources offered to get off the streets too. But it’s all about choices. There’s a stark contrast between people wanting help and those who don’t want it but continue to live like burdens to society.
Now that I am older with children myself I see things I knew existed growing up, but was sheltered from. 1 Peter 3:11 – Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
Maybe that makes it worse when you are thrust into a culture like this and not used to it, than being raised around it and shrugging your shoulders like: “Ugh, whatever. These homeless bums are everywhere here. Just ignore them.”
But I don’t think so. People do not get used to having these behaviors and addictions in their face all the time. How can we?
I don’t want to ignore them and pretend this doesn’t exist. I want it fixed. I want these people fixed. I want to feed them. I want to clothe them. I want them to be able to find jobs and work and provide for themselves. Most of all I want them delivered from addiction. Jeremiah 33:6 – Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
Now we have social media and most people have a phone to record everything and upload it within seconds. Maybe the only difference between then and now is the internet.
Whatever it is, a truth remains that now I SEE it. I don’t want my kids to think this is okay. This is NOT okay. This is pathetic. And for whatever choices it is that these people have been thrust into these lifestyles have made me see as a parent that this is not safe to be around, nor do I desire to continue living in an area where this is so prevalent.
2 Timothy 1:7 – For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
I see homelessness on a daily basis. On my last vacation with my kids we were heading to Barnes & Noble to shop for new books. I stopped at the light and my daughter pointed out the window. I looked over and saw a man laying prostrate at a crosswalk under the post. He was blocking the sidewalk and his feet were hanging off the curb. I could envision a crazy Florida driver clipping this mans legs and either rendering him incapacitated for life or killing him.
But that is what I see here since we have moved. It is everywhere. Homeless passed out on the curbs and downtown, camping behind businesses and panhandling on busy
intersections. It’s like visiting a historic landmark so rich in history, yet the streets are brimming with feces, urine and the stench of addicts camping everywhere, tainting the beauty of what once was.
And it is everywhere here. It makes you feel less safe. Philippians 4:6 – Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
The nation classifies this as an epidemic. A homeless problem. Lack of affordable housing. https://homelessquandary.wordpress.com/2019/06/17/drug-addiction-disguised-as-homelessness/
But all I see is a drug problem. Alcoholic problems. Mental issues. And I see no resources for rehabilitation or mental hospitals for these people who really do NOT need to be on
the streets around other innocents. Many of these people are aggressive and get violent with other homeless and even visitors.
Druggies can be rehabilitated. Alcoholics can get sober. There is freedom for these people if they have resources. But it’s also about choices. If they get choices but refuse to take help to do what is right for themselves and the community, that is called sin. If they make a choice to want to change but fighting inside to make it happen, that is called grace.
God will plant a seed in a person who is so full of addictions. That seed will take root and start growing thoughts and emotions of: “I need help. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to live like this anymore.” Those roots sprout, start taking over the mind. Then God sends you resources. He will send you help. He lifts you out of the pit of helplessness and addiction, gives you grace. He delivers and saves. Psalms 147:3 – He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds
You can talk to countless former addicts and they will tell you their story. They will tell
you how they were delivered and how hard they work to stay sober. They will tell you about the mercy showed to them from a resource that lifted them out of the pit when they had nowhere else to turn. And they use their story to help others who are addicted.
Isaiah 41:10 – Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
God can make it happen. Someone who is an addict screaming inside wanting to get sober, God hears that. He can and will open a door for them to be delivered. He will bring the right people in that addicts life too at the right time. God’s timing is perfect. Even if there are NO resources in an area, God can and will bring them to that person or move them out to get help. That is how God works.
And it could be as simple as offering the homeless community a free meal too. A chance to talk to them and be a witness to them, to give them an option for peace if they have
never had options in their life. God sees it all. He knows what the addict needs who made themselves homeless by their bad choices, and he knows what the homeless needs who lost a job and their home and cannot find a way to make a living.
Jeremiah 33:6 – Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
Everyone has choices. When we were losing our home in Kentucky we knew without a shadow of a doubt that we could not stay where we were and expect to make a living. The economy just would not support that and my husband was not making his full salary. We also fixed white rice and red beans in the crock pot and lived off that for over a month. We had whole oats for breakfast. That was all we had.
But we made a choice as a family to not stay where we were and knew we would have to work harder to not have to go through that again. It took us five years, and we will be working at it until the day we die.
Philippians 4:19 – But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
When we moved to Florida and times got tough and money was too tight, we didn’t stand on the corner begging for money with a sign. We didn’t block traffic to panhandle. I didn’t use my kids as an emotional crutch to assault passerby’s to give me money like I see here. Or use cute little kittens or puppies like the bums do downtown. We also do not abuse drugs or alcohol. We do not choose to be homeless and backpack from city to city and squat everywhere.
It’s choices. But humans tend to use choices as a license to sin.
We chose to work and pay our bills and have a roof over our head. And we chose to work hard together to do it. “I never dreamed about success, I worked for it.” -Estee Lauder
I think the difference between the homeless I am seeing here where I live and others are the fact that the true homeless want to work. They just want a chance to get off the
streets in a warm bed with running water and a toilet and hot shower. They want to have a job to provide those things, even if it is living in a crappy apartment. And they would love to have a rice cooker with a bag of white rice and a can of red beans too.
If you want to do better, you will. If you refuse to do what is right, you will stay where you are.
Choices.
It’s all about the choices we make. But the reality of what we see on a daily basis on the streets and in our homes is SIN. If you want to do what is right God will open a door for you to make that choice. But if you want to continue to wallow in the feces pit and be a leach on society and a drain to the economy, that is your choice too. You will never get anywhere in life with that mentality. But you will succeed when you make the choice to do what is right, and work hard to get there.
“There is no substitute for hard work.”-Thomas Edison
This world has an epidemic. It’s called SIN.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray without ceasing.
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