A few weeks ago, i dropped my sons car off at a local tyre place to get some work done on it.i had to wait for a couple of hours and so i walked about 500m to a local shopping centre to fill in the time.
Whilst enroute to said shopping centre, and deep in thought, i happened upon a lonely figure sitting between a pub and an atm machine with an upturned hat on the ground in front.
I think i walked about 100 m further until eventually the impression to turn around , go back to the atm machine and draw out money to give to this man became so strong i had no conscious option but to folllow through on the urge.
My urge was to give him $100.
I walked back past the man to the atm, drew out $50 and gave it to him, then without a word walked away knowing that more than likely he would not be sitting in front of that pub when i returned a hour or so later.
I gave him $50 rather than $100 because of where he was sitting and because of what i figured he would do with tbe money.
Why my urge to give money to facilitate a drunk
If so, how does one justify the feeling of success if you will in giving $50 when the strong impression was $100? I wasnt worried about penny pinching, and yeti reasoned i was giving $100 to a drunk…having said that, im pretty sure it doesnt cost $100 to get plastered!
How do we witness to those who really arent looking for salvation…they just want to get plastered?
Ps…its been weeks now and only tonight and in the process of writing this post have i reached the concensus in arguing with “me, myself and I” (some might say with the still small voice on my shoulder) that i think this concluding question above is the reason i was impressed to drop the money in his upturned hat and walk away without a word. Its raised a question i havent really seriously thought about before when it comes to witnessing?
It is not because of people like you who do exactly what you have done. Isn’t that what gives him a reason to be there with the open hat? (This does not preclude the possibility that the inspiration of God/HS prompted you to give, though… my first thought on the reason why… is it had more to do with making you think than anything to do with that man… who after all may be rather past any ability to change himself).
In fact, I would compare it to making a pet, as I have commented disparagingly of in another thread. I would also compare it with the eloi in H.G. Wells book “The Time Machine.” Those who are simply given what they need are deprived the need to grow up and be responsible for their lives.
And… this connects to the other thread… "Why did God create using evolution? …where we fight for our survival instead of just being given everything we need. And this here is an example of the answer I always give… because that is what life requires.
We should treat others as we would want others to treat us.
This is easier to say than to live. There are reasons for this.
We do not know the situation of the other person, do not know what is the best for that person. As a young man, I sometimes gave money, sometimes not because I was not sure what the person would do with the money. Too often the money was wasted to alcohol or drugs, making the situation worse.
Then I tried to give food or a travel ticket instead of money. Even then I was cheated as the person sold the food or the ticket to get money for alcohol or drugs. For example, once I walked with the person to a grocery store and then to the train that he said he will take. I did not wait until the train left and the cheating person jumped of the train when I could not see him and sold what I had given to him.
That kind of experiences make you sceptic and reluctant to give money, although most persons are not cheaters or fully responsible for their poor economical situation.
We have monthly growing numbers of people, including poor families, that are given food because they do not earn enough to pay all the minimum expences needed for life. This happens although I live in a country where the social welfare is in a better shape than in most countries.
According to the national rules, unemployed need to send at least four job applications per month to get their financial support from the state, so they try to get jobs but cannot because there are more applying jobs than can be hired. The jobs they get tend to give just a few work hours per week, so they do not earn enough to support their family even if they work and try to get more work.
I definitely would like to be helped if I would end up in a similar situation.
One problem is that the need is so much more than what we have. There is a need for wisdom to see whom to help when there is not enough to help all.
Without a relationship of any kind, why should he even listen to what you have to say, assuming you know the thing this stranger needs to hear at the moment. I don’t think the Bible gives is a model for drive-by witnessessing, unless the Holy Spirit has driven an apostle to speak to a specific person in a crowd. What would be much harder, but perhaps more effective, is to get to know a person in need, find out about them, find out what their physical and legal needs and wants are. Etc. While working to know the person over time and help meet their needs, you are demonstrating what you believe and are earning the street cred to talk about it.
The book “The Gospel Comes with a Housekey” provides some outstanding examples of this for of witness.
I like the notion presented about doing as one would wish to be done to oneself.
As a child growing up i recall a really interesting story that in some ways has relevance here.
My dad and i were once traveling home and dad stopped and picked up a hitch hiker.
Dad being the christian he was, couldnt help himself and gave the hitch hiker a bible.
Months later, my mum got a call from (if memory is correct) her boss, who happened to also be a christiansaying he had her bible…the same one my dadhad given to the hitch hiker months earlier…it had been retrieved from a garbage bin strangely enough.
Anyway, the bible safely home and you wouldnt believe it but dad happened up9n that same hitch hiker again…and not being able to help himself, dad asked the hitchiker how the bible reading was going? The hitch hiker launched into a response that he was reading the bible regularly…dad cut him off saying you cant lie to God, ive got the bible back…you threw it in a garbage bin and a friend retrieved it!
I suppose that the above story highlights my dilemma…its even a problem i have with my own family…if only others could see what we see, that they could realise how fragile and finite life really is, that without a choice for God, if it turns out he really does exist, there is no hope!
I think a lot these days about the story of the good samaritan…
One thing ive really wanted to do for about 3 or 4 years now is to take meals into homeless people around the city of melbourne…im yet to achieve that goal unfortunately and it makes me sad…not because i think it helps my salvation directly but because i just like to help people. Its still a bucket list item i hope to get to soon though (when all this work 900km away from home is finished this year.)
Odd. I once saw a homeless guy handing out pages from a Bible, the really thin paper kind, as rolling paper for cigarettes, but I’ve never imagined anyone just throwing one away.
I once went with friends to hand out oranges and Christmas cookies. One guy demanded more oranges, another got upset because he thought his packet of cookies was smaller than another guy nearby . . . .
“To give or not to give, that is the question” faced quite often by many.
Once when I was in Reno there were three different guys begging along a fifty-foot stretch of sidewalk; all said they were hungry and needed food. I asked one if he was just going to spend the money on booze, and he got really upset, saying, “No, I’m f**ing hungry!” I then asked him about the other two guys, and he said they might spend some on booze but mostly on food.
So I took them all to the Burger King just down the block and let them order whatever they wanted – that was my way of making sure I was feeding them, not helping an addiction. [That wasn’t without its problems; the Burger King staff weren’t at all pleased about me bringing “some of those people” in with me; I just responded, “They can order whatever they want”. I guess money talks because the one gal shut up and waved them on. Interestingly I ended up talking about Christ with one of the gals who worked there while the three guys were so busy eating had no ears for anything.]
Never thought about it, is homelessness a big problem in Australia?
My son in law, does something in abbreviated fashion when approached on the street. He asks a little about their story, what they are in the midst of, and asks if he can pray for them, then prays if they agree. He may then give them money or buy them a meal. I have to admit, I both admire his willingness to spend a little time rather just throw some money their way, and feel a little uncomfortable, as it seems a little forced at the same time.
Im not sure what the statistics are on homelessness JPM. I suppose that it would be similar to most developed countries?
One thing i did notice during COVID and in the year or so after where i worked mostly nights in the city of Melbourne, it seemed to me that a lot of homeless people are homeless because:
they have serious mental issues - i found that both shocking and incredibly difficult to accept given there is supposed to be so much support for mental health in this day and age and yet here we have a lot of individuals on the streets because of the very condition governments claim to be spending 10’s of millions of dollars apparently addressing!
They are addicts - either alcohol or drugs or both (which i think also correlates quite closely with mental health above)
I cant say i recall too many individuals on the streets that i have come across whilst working night work in the city who have sound minds…that seemed to me to be the exception (perhaps im wrong but that is just what i have observed)
As someone who has been trained professionally as a high school teacher in a past life (many years ago now), it saddens me that these individuals went through at least some schooling and yet have managed to end up like this. I feel like my past profession has really let these individuals down.
It reminds me of a story ( a lifes experience as a teacher) that still makes me cry when i try to recall it publicly…
I once took on a teaching job in a school in Sydney and one of the students in that school was known among staff to be troublesome. In fact my very first encounter with him was physcially restraining him from belting another student with a squash racquet during sport.
Anyway after the above encounter, I decided very early on to do my best to be a teacher that this student could feel safe around, feel wanted, accepted, be himself.
I believed i had succeeded in my endeavour, however, it was a delusion as a year or so after i started at the school the student got expelled when he was in year 10. I knew about the expulsion and i was saddened, even angry that more was not done for the guy…he was a great student for me in my classes and i never had any trouble with him (with the exception of the sport encounter)…i just couldnt accept his expulsion.
Anyway, i happened to be at a local shopping centre for lunch a couple of months later and i spotted him walked towards me outside the centre…however, he at that point did not realise i had seen him as he had not yet sighted me. A few moments later, i noticed out of the corner of my eye that he recognised me and ducked in behind a concrete pillar and turned and walked the other way…it broke my heart.
I have never forgotten that experience…i obviously did not do enough that that student had enough faith and trust in me to meet face to face despite his expulsion. Clearly he either had too much hatred for the school or he was ashamed and thought himself an outcast and turned away.
I wish now that i had run after him to privately voice my support…im so disappointed in myself for not doing that at the time however, hindsight often comes too late doesnt it.
There is a futility ofetn percieved about giving to the poor or needy. We cannot turn the life around completely, or, even if wecould,in one case there are so many more in need.
There is also an inherent guilt when ever we “walk by on the other side”
We are asked to asses what we give in terms of our own comfort and need (as Christians) but even that is subject ot what is “needed”. A TV? more than one car? Any luxery? Any comfort? Perhaps we shoould all be monks or nuns? (Except there are arguments against that life style that i would rather not explore here)
If I have learned anything of the values in christianity it boils down t ersonal understanding and how we manifest it. It is the reason why enforcing Tithing or insisting on a course of actiion is not encouraged, even by Jesus.
Perhaps t is not about a specific inciedent or circumstance?
What the person will do with the gift is right at the heart of God’s grace. Perhaps that is beyond our control.and should not affect whether we give or not.
Mental health issues and addiction go often hand in hand with homelessness. As do poverty, job insecurity, health problems, enforced racism and the lack of various social safety nets. Causes and effects are not always clear, and many are generational or systemic. It’s usually unrealistic to think one can indicate the specific cause for any of these issues.
Likewise, it’s unrealistic to blame yourself for this studentks distrust and unacceptable behavior. Your protecting another student was the right thing to do. That kid ought to be grateful that you were there to intervene.
You can’t know all of what was involved that lead to the aggressors behavior, expulsion or distrust of you. Or that you could have hac anyinfluence in the matter. Sometimes we have to accept that there are people who distrust us even before we meet them. We can’t change that. We can only treat them decently and recognize that our true value is not in their control.
Lack of family support is another big one. If I were ever in the financial situation where I couldn’t afford housing I have plenty of family to fall back on, but some people do not.
It’s not always possible to “do enough” – people can be in worse holes than we can imagine and all the effort in the world by just one person may not be enough to show a way out of that hole.
All too often these days in the U.S. the culprit behind homelessness is “urban planning”, something that limits the amount of housing and drives prices up. Here in my small town there are dozens of homeless people for the simple reason that there just isn’t enough housing, something that remains true even after the addition of nearly a hundred new low-income units. And in a town where a friend was homeless, there were people making $2500 a month who couldn’t afford housing; they often shared twelve people to a motel room for however long they could get away with it before authorities kicked them out. One guy was working in roofing and bringing in $3600 a month after taxes and he still couldn’t afford actual housing; he lived in an old van parked just outside city limits. It’s bad enough that an op-ed in a local newspaper noted that the area actually has two poverty levels: the official one and the “housing level”, with incomes for the latter being three or more times the former.
People doing the planning are often out of touch; I am reminded of the city council that decreed that what constituted “affordable housing” was a house that cost eight times the poverty level!
Adam…the topic has raised some interesting answers. I am glad that many here give at least some thought to how to deal with the needy in our midst. Giving aid is one thing, creating dependency is another…and that takes discernment.
Extreme poverty (no source of good food, no stable living situation, no employment) breeds a boatload of problems. I waited for an extremely late train one evening, while a homeless man and woman approached. They told me the local convenience store had refused their requests for coffee–they had brought their own styrofoam cups. The man talked at me for the longest time and the woman fell asleep on a bench. Just as the train approached–and leaving no time for either of them to say anything more—I woke the woman, handed her “just enough” for what would buy a sandwich and a cup of coffee somewhere-- and I jumped on the train and, as they might say, disappeared (along with the departing train) from view…I do not want to contribute to someone’s addiction but in that case decided that maybe “just enough” for a sandwich made sense. Assuming they are a drunk and a con seems cruel --even though sometimes true—but sometimes “life” makes being a con a necessity. You never know someone’s story.
Rather than dollars in the hat, for the most part it is better to direct someone to a local shelter or food pantry. Overall, independence and self-sufficiency should be the goal of charity.
My wife and I have been giving money to a young man for some time now. We pass him on a roadway we travel often. He never seems stoned out or drunk-he just looks lost and weary yet always says God bless you One of the motivating factors for giving him money and at times some heathy snacks are that he has a dog with him at all times and we have seen him loving on that pup. That touches our hearts deeply. That dog is his companion a good friend in times of need. We’re not going to miss the money we give him and to me it’s Christs work prompted by the Holy Spirit. It’s a practical gift to sustain life and why not. He says God bless you and we say and “God bless you.” I have been tempted to invite him to our home but that would be taking a different path which I’m not sure of. Our church is right down the road and perhaps soon I hope we will invite him and his companion to service. I “I was thirsty and you gave me drink.”
I think that is fine, as we all make our own choices as led. However, I have been traveling the same route lately, and noticed the same person stakes out the same intersection each day. there was a news story written on how there is an organized group that drops panhandling folk off each day and picks them up to return home that evening. When asked why not get a job, one replied that they make much more panhandling than working, even after paying their handler.
On the other hand, even scammers are to be loved. A story I was reading about scammers manning phone banks in the border area of China made me more compassionate towards them, as the are usually educated English speakers, with no good options and in desperate situations. My compassion does not extend to their bosses, however.
