homeless outreach + new years resolutions

This past Saturday, I went along with some youth group members to serve soup and hot drinks and pass out some donated jackets/care packages to the homeless in DC.

The night before, when I looked up the weather forecast, it said the temperature would be a cozy 11 degrees at 9 am the next morning.  At that point, everything within me told me to "forget" to set the alarm and skip the outreach.  After all, many of the parents had signed up and there wasn't really a need for extra chaperones.  No one would miss me, right?  Plus, in my mind, I kept trying to rationalize not going by telling myself that the homeless would all be in shelters since it was so cold out.

I don't know what made me wake up and walk out into the frozen tundra that morning, but consider it a minor miracle.  And I was wrong about there being no people to give food to.  Apparently shelters are closed during the day and only open up at night, even when it's 11 degrees out.  When I saw the army of people waiting for our supplies, suddenly I felt a small gratefulness for my space heater and warm blankets on my bed at home.

I won't say the experience was life-changing or anything that dramatic, but it's good to be reminded of Jesus' call to serve others, lest I begin to think of my own needs (read: wants) too much.  I am humbled by the fact that I did nothing to gain the security afforded to me by my parents and that it's just pure dumb luck that I'm not lying under a park bench in McPherson Square right now.

What shakes me even more is that I actually had the nerve to consider it an inconvenience instead of an opportunity.  If I had stayed home, I wouldn't have met Chung, a Bolivian immigrant with Korean grandparents (apparently Koreans love building cheap textile factories in Bolivia. who knew?) who reminded me that man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.  Or Ronny, who challenged me by asking if I really cared, or I was just out there because of obligation.  It was hard to look him in the eye.

This year, I resolve to think of myself less.

“For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I deserved."  - Richard Stearns, president of World Vision