Without a Home

Tonight I was about to get off work and head over to watch my daughter practice ballet. About 4:50pm i got a call from a lady who had just met a family whose house burned to the ground this past weekend. It was a family of eight in need of food. Just after i got off the phone with her Red Cross sent over a family of six who had the same thing happen to them over the weekend as well; and i was trying my hardest to finish the bank deposit for the day. I was getting sort of in a hurry and impatient cause i really wanted to go see me daughter's ballet practice.

But when the second family came in and i saw all those children walk down the hallway, it hit me on how critical and necessary the work i was doing at that moment was; even if it meant having to miss something that was extremely important to me. These two families were without a home, lost everything they owned, and didn't know where their next meal would come from. Their lives had been turned upside down, they were scared, and living in the reality of the unknown.

Suffering and poverty comes in many forms and sometimes without warning. Being part of the solution will at times test our resolve and challenge our commitment and sincerity. Tonight, these two families may have a place to lay their heads, but they remain without a home. As i struggle to do the right thing, these two families remind me that service is not a matter of convenience but a privilege of sacrifice in a world filled with busyness and distractions. May these encounters expose any hypocrisy and push me closer towards genuineness and authenticity; whatever that may be.