A few days ago, I saw a man riding a bike by our house with
two monkeys sitting on the back. If you paid him money he would stop and make
one monkey in a dress dance around and the other do a back flip. As
interesting as it was to see, it was more heart wrenching because other people
and I didn’t want to stop him to see his show, but we would watch from a
distance as someone else asked him to stop, and then rob him of possibly the
only income he earns to support his family by not going over to pay him
pennies. Yet again, the poverty and desperation here (and sometimes my attitude
toward it) overwhelms me.
When you are in a new place and see people everywhere on the
streets putting their hands all up in your space and pulling on you begging you
for things and then see people just stare forward and ignore them, your heart
breaks. But when this begins to happen to you daily for an extended period of
time and when you hear about beggar’s circles and pimps and other REALLY BAD
JUNK, you begin to harden your heart not only for protection from heartbreak
but also because you begin to believe that your nickel will actually harm them more
than help.
And we know that we can't be the only people who feel like this. In a book I'm reading, Seth Barnes experiences the same thing when he explains, "We can't just do nothing. I'm an American. We are the richest people in the world. We know 'to whom much is given, much is expected.' We labor under the guilt of our abundance. In that moment, paralyzed by ambiguity, uncomfortable that people are grabbing for my wallet, I do nothing. Called to a lifestyle of giving, of activism, I risk becoming a parody of myself, maybe even like Peter, who when he saw Christ, denied him."
And we know that we can't be the only people who feel like this. In a book I'm reading, Seth Barnes experiences the same thing when he explains, "We can't just do nothing. I'm an American. We are the richest people in the world. We know 'to whom much is given, much is expected.' We labor under the guilt of our abundance. In that moment, paralyzed by ambiguity, uncomfortable that people are grabbing for my wallet, I do nothing. Called to a lifestyle of giving, of activism, I risk becoming a parody of myself, maybe even like Peter, who when he saw Christ, denied him."
After months of forward-glances and denials, the Lord has
begun to break our heart for the poor around us. He has convicted us both
separately and then encouraged us to move forward together. My heart broke as I
saw the monkey man drive past us and realized that no one just does that for fun (aka train monkeys, and dress them,
and ride around giving performances). Kids don’t look grimy and pull at your
clothes because there’s nothing else better to do. Mom’s don’t carry their
small babies around sitting at Metro entrances because that is the best place
to raise them.
No. There is some seriously hard stuff going on in these
people’s lives. The man with the monkey probably doesn’t have ANOTHER job. By
no means am I an expert at the inner workings of the poor in this country or
know/understand their motives. And people may argue and say that giving money
may just encourage the process of begging or that they should get jobs, but I
can no longer deny that there is something up when people go to these lengths
and when our Savior hung out with the poor and needy and didn’t turn people
away when they came to Him, even the really sick like the lepers (Matthew
8:1-4). When people followed Him, He asked them what they really wanted.
And this is exactly how the Lord spoke to Grayson. He told
him that from here on out that he is no longer to ignore the people that come
up to us. Whether we give them food, money, prayer, or water, we will ask there
name and what they really want. Do the lame men on the ground really want to be
healed? Do the kids really want money, or do their bellies ache for food?
As we recently have been acting on the Lord’s leading, He
provided an opportunity immediately to obey (which He usually does). A boy came
up to Grayson and his friend at a coffee shop the other day asking for food. After
convincing several waiters (trying to shoo the boys away) that they really wanted
to talk to the boys, Grayson and his friend were able to talk and pray with the
boys, then give them some water (which they quickly gulped down).
We have learned that we’re on this earth to spread His
blessing to everyone we meet, despite our fear, preconceived notions, better
judgment, or the influence of the culture around us that so blatantly pushes
these people down (quite literally shooing people like dogs). We’ve learned
that if we don’t prayerfully live in this new culture, there are going to be
other (unrighteous) attitudes that creep into our hearts.
What blessings are you withholding from people because of
culture, self-protection, etc? What do you need to ask Him for forgiveness for
and grace to move forward for?