Over the Underpass

Hi friends :)

Have I mentioned that I have a four day weekend? It's just about exactly what I needed. It's been so so great so far!

I don't really even know where to begin with this post.

R and R yesterday was great. This morning at church I heard Mike Yankosi speak, you might remember me mentioning that in my last post... (I was looking forward to hearing him ALL week!)

...let me tell you folks, he did not disappoint.

Wow- Talk about a heart change.

He talked about how he grew up knowing there was homelessness and poverty...but that it was just an abstract idea... it wasn't until he went to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip in high school that he encountered homeless children...most who weren't even wearing clothes, one who was playing with a bottle cap attached to string..aka garbage. That's when it went from an abstract idea to an actual person. These are people.

Just

like

us.

God's created.

He went to a Christian college and somewhere down the road wrote about paper about the passage in Matthew that we know of as "The Good Samaritan". He decided after that to live homeless for 5 months and 6 different cities.

It was appalling to hear how they (him and the friend who went homeless w him) were treated by some churches. (not all...but some)

I guess they sat near them and went to church to see how they would be received..

He told a story that really made my jaw drop, literally.

Him and his buddy were hanging out outside of a church on a Saturday and they woke up to the smell of bacon, eggs, and pancakes..etc. I think he said they had been homeless for about 4 months at this point so they were used to eating out of the garbage...

They were so excited, thinking to themselves..yes! It's saturday, church breakfast. We'll get to eat today. Two men, then come out loading things and going back and forth. One shouts to them, "You have to get out of here..." and keeps walking doing what he's doing.

They stay... when the man comes back he says.."why are you still here? I told you, you need to go, this building isn't here for this.."

Mike wanted to debate with him, saying why is it here? The man said look...it's not for this, and you need to leave.

Then they got up and left.

The next day they arrived to the church again for Sunday morning service. They were about 30 minutes early because they mixed up the times. Slowly but surely, the sanctuary filled in all around them. Except, where they were sitting, there was about a 10 foot radius because no one would sit near them.

Then, comes a man's voice..."GUYS!!" and runs up to them. "I'm soo glad you're here!!" and gives the men a hug. It's the man from the day before who told them to leave.

He is visibly broken up (maybe crying) and says how sorry he is and how convicted he became afterwards. Then, the man puts his hands in his pockets and kind of looks at the floor.

He says to the guys, "I'm kind of embarrassed to tell you this, but I'm actually the director of the homeless ministry at our church."

That's where my jaw dropped....wow.

How sad is that?

He told us the homeless ministry for that church was on Tuesdays...

This guy had so compartmentalized.

He helped the homeless on Tuesday....but it's Saturday, and was "me" time for him. Church breakfast time, not homeless helping time.

That hit home. Mike related it to Jesus and how Jesus was available at all times. He stopped to help people. When a random woman grabbed his coat in the market, and the disciples were like "come on Jesus! We can't stop, you need to do this miracle here" Jesus was like..."no, someone touched me..who was it?" He stops to help! Always. It's not about Him...

How true?

That's just a little tid bit of what I remember really stuck out from his message.

What he said makes me want to reach out and help all the people I can! I want to feed the homeless now. I want to talk to them and not ignore them like everyone else.

I strongly encourage you to go buy or borrow the book he wrote though!

It's called "Under the Overpass". I haven't read it yet but I got my copy this morning and Mike signed it :)

I'm so excited to start reading it!

He also shared with some statistics.

There are 760,000 Americans from each US city who are homeless.

Today there are more slaves, children and adults, than there were total during the Transatlantic Slave trade.

It really put things in perspective.

Get his book! I believe it will change and challenge the way you think as I know I was challenged this morning.