homes for the homeless
July 21, 2009
Today I heard about a single mother and her only child, who spend more than half her small salary on housing for herself and her child. And I did nothing.
Today I heard about a child for whom there is no place in the childrens home, looking for a room for the night.
Everyday I see those without homes all around me.
Tonight one room in our house is empty. Tonight 3 matrasses in our house don’t have anyone sleeping on them. But yet, I struggle to open up the place I live to the homeless.
Whether I should I don’t know. But there is still much that need to be worked on in this persons spirituality and wisdom before I know what to do when I hear this news.
my contemplations 
July 21, 2009 at 8:42 am
I went through exactly the same struggle in myself this winter. And worked through all the “reality issues”: safety, privacy, akwardness etc etc.
Then our family decided that we could bridge the issues. Here is how:
1 – build a relationship first. Get to know the person. Invite them to visit. Talk to them.
2 – be wise. We have small kids (girls). We focus on homeless woman.
3 – invite them spontanneously. When they visit, invite them to sleep over on the spot.
4 – set clear boundaries. Do not set expectations or function out of guilt. Function out of love.
We have 3 ladies that sleep over from time to time. It works well. And we learn a lot about a lot of things that we shielded our family against because of “reality”.
July 21, 2009 at 10:51 am
But while you’re building a relationship, they are still outside…and although you set boundaries and do it with discernment, how do you know a certain expectation won’t start to take place? Help me please.