A Night of Sharing Sandwiches and a Listening Ear to NYC's Homeless

Last night we had our weekly Monday night meeting, during which all the different tracks on the NYC Summer Project come together for dinner and worship. Each week a different track hosts the meeting, and last night was the inner city track's turn. After a brief time of sharing testimonies in regards to how they had seen the Lord work through ministry to the homeless, the inner city staff divided us into groups, gave us some instructions, and handed us bags of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to distribute throughout the city. Perhaps "distribute" is the wrong word. What the inner city track strongly emphasized before sending us out was the value of spending time with the men and women to whom we gave the sandwiches, to allow them to share their story with us and just be heard. My group was sent to a K-Mart near the Penn Station subway stop, where we found a side street that turned out apparently to be one of the hot hang-out spots for a variety of homeless men and women. My friend Jordan and I approached an elderly woman named "Delores" (either that or "Doris"; I couldn't quite make it out for sure), asked if she'd like a meal (some bags we were given to hand out contained a few more items than just a sandwich), and if we could sit down with her for a bit. She was very sweet, and was delighted to find out that Jordan and I were from Florida and South Carolina, since she had family in both of our states. During our time in that side street behind K-Mart, I was struck by how the homeless people around the area all seemed to look out for each other. At one point a man passed us carrying a life-size batman "stuffed toy" (to call it a doll seems weird, and it wasn't a stuffed animal, so I'm not sure what exactly to call what he was carrying other than that). Of course that grabbed our and Delores' attention, and she halted our conversation to ask what he was doing. "I just found it, and thought I'd give it to the kids; I thought they'd get a kick out of it!" was his jovial reply in a very New York accent. Also, Jordan told me that when he approached a different man to offer him a sandwich, the man told Jordan to make sure he gave one to Delores. I felt convicted about my tendency to so often jump to negative conclusions about the attitudes and motivations of the homeless. But one thing the Lord taught me last night was that they too can have the ability and the desire to step outside of themselves and look out for others, even when they have so little to give each other. And I inwardly begrudge giving a dollar to the man on the street who asks me for money. May the Lord give me more of the love of His heart for ALL of His people, not just the outwardly lovely ones.

After we all returned from sharing food and spending time with the homeless at our separate locations, a group of us from campus track got together to hang out for a little while, during which we were blessed to hear the exciting news that one of the couples who are on our campus track staff, John and Ellen from upstate New York, were able to lead a homeless man to Christ! Praise the Lord that this man was not only fed physical food last night, but received the Bread of Life!