A Day in the Life of a Birmingham Homeless Man
Isaiah 58 (The Message)
Your Prayers Won't Get Off the Ground
1-3 "Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!Tell my people what's wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!They're busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me.To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring.They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' and love having me on their side.But they also complain, 'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' 3-5"Well, here's why:
"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. You drive your employees much too hard.You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist.The kind of fasting you do won't get your prayers off the ground.Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after: a day to show off humility?To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black?Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?
6-9"This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'
A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins,If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones.You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
13-14"If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage,If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration,If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there—Then you'll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all.I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob." Yes! God says so!
The alarm on the old cell phone, no minutes left on it of course, went off at 4:00 AM. It still kept time when he could find a plug to keep it charged. And John pulled himself out from under the two dirty blankets that have been his bed for the last several months. He lit an old candle he got from the Church of the Reconciler. It cast a warm glow in the corner of the old abandoned building that was now home.
He pulled on his socks and shoes, put on a clean pair of kakis and a shirt he found in the clothes closet at Church of the Reconciler. Sighed a prayer of thanksgiving that God woke him up one more time, and that God had kept him safe during the night. He took a drink of water out of an old milk jug he kept at the camp and ate a bag of chips he brought to the camp from the church.
John stepped outside around the corner into some bushes to relive himself. There aren’t any public restrooms or portable toilets anywhere.
He began the long walk to the Temp Labor agency. He has to be there at 5 AM if he was going to get a work ticket. John was praying all the way that he would get a job that day. He couldn’t ride the bus because the busses don’t start running until 5:30 am.
The police stopped him again. They asked for his ID. They ran him on their computer. Thank God it was clear, or they would have locked him up again. John was deeply grateful because it hadn’t been long since he had completed his community service at Church of the Reconciler to get rid of the fines and warrants he had from the misdemeanors with the City.
He got the fines for driving with out insurance and with an expired license. All this happened not long after his wife died of cancer and he lost it, like many in our culture he didn’t know any response to pain and death but to get drunk or get high. So he lost control of his life and lost his job.
They towed his car and took his expired license. The storage charge on his car was $40 a day. He couldn’t pay so he lost his car.
John missed his court dates because he couldn’t pay the fines and did not want to go to jail. And with the warrant after the second missed court date he could not find a job because everybody now a day runs a background check before giving employment.
But John heard at the Life Recovery Center, Day program for the Homeless at Church of the Reconciler that he could fill out some forms, get them notarized, take them to the Municipal Court and not get arrested. And be assigned Community service hours to get the fines and warrants off his back. He did it. That morning he was glad!
The preacher at the Reconciler also got john an appointment to get his ID restored at the Highlands United Methodist Church. So he had an ID, a non-driver state ID.
So John was not arrested that day on his way to work at 4:30 AM in the morning. But he was late the police delayed him 20 minutes.
Thank God he got a work ticket anyway, $6 an hour for 6 hours, 9 to 3:30. He had to wait until 5:30 PM until they had his check cut for him. John was at the temp agency and job site for 12 ½ hours.
He had a check in his hand for $24.88. $5 deducted for transportation, $6 deducted for lunch and equipment rental, then taxes of course. He couldn’t even rent a cheap motel room for that. He cashed his check at the BP, bought a drink and a bag of chips and had less than $20 in his pocket. He walked by the Captain D’s and bought a fish dinner and walked by the grocery and bought a 2 liter drink, a pack of cigarettes and a snack for breakfast and had $5 left in his pocket.
John was relived to find out that nobody had messed up his camp during the day. Sat down and leaned against the wall and read the Upper Room devotional guide he picked up at the church, by the light coming through an old broken window. He was worried about winter coming, about how to keep warm. He didn’t know what he would do if he got sick, there are no benefits with any of the jobs he can get.
John was wondering how could he get off of the street working like this. He owed over $1,000.00 on back utility bills he still owed after his wife died. He was evicted for non-payment of rent. Lost his credit. And so the only apartment he could find required an up front deposit, first months rent, last months rent. So John was looking at over $2,500.00 to get off the street with only $5 in his pocket.
He checked the old cell phone again hoping the charge would hold until Sunday so he could charge it at church during worship. John set the alarm for 4 AM again. And went to sleep looking forward to Sunday when he could eat his fill again at the Common Meal at the Reconciler.
9/4/06
Isaiah 58 (The Message)
Your Prayers Won't Get Off the Ground
1-3 "Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!Tell my people what's wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!They're busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me.To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring.They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' and love having me on their side.But they also complain, 'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' 3-5"Well, here's why:
"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. You drive your employees much too hard.You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist.The kind of fasting you do won't get your prayers off the ground.Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after: a day to show off humility?To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black?Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?
6-9"This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'
A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins,If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones.You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
13-14"If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage,If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration,If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there—Then you'll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all.I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob." Yes! God says so!
Your Prayers Won't Get Off the Ground
1-3 "Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!Tell my people what's wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!They're busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me.To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring.They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' and love having me on their side.But they also complain, 'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' 3-5"Well, here's why:
"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. You drive your employees much too hard.You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist.The kind of fasting you do won't get your prayers off the ground.Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after: a day to show off humility?To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black?Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?
6-9"This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'
A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins,If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones.You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
13-14"If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage,If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration,If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there—Then you'll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all.I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob." Yes! God says so!
The alarm on the old cell phone, no minutes left on it of course, went off at 4:00 AM. It still kept time when he could find a plug to keep it charged. And John pulled himself out from under the two dirty blankets that have been his bed for the last several months. He lit an old candle he got from the Church of the Reconciler. It cast a warm glow in the corner of the old abandoned building that was now home.
He pulled on his socks and shoes, put on a clean pair of kakis and a shirt he found in the clothes closet at Church of the Reconciler. Sighed a prayer of thanksgiving that God woke him up one more time, and that God had kept him safe during the night. He took a drink of water out of an old milk jug he kept at the camp and ate a bag of chips he brought to the camp from the church.
John stepped outside around the corner into some bushes to relive himself. There aren’t any public restrooms or portable toilets anywhere.
He began the long walk to the Temp Labor agency. He has to be there at 5 AM if he was going to get a work ticket. John was praying all the way that he would get a job that day. He couldn’t ride the bus because the busses don’t start running until 5:30 am.
The police stopped him again. They asked for his ID. They ran him on their computer. Thank God it was clear, or they would have locked him up again. John was deeply grateful because it hadn’t been long since he had completed his community service at Church of the Reconciler to get rid of the fines and warrants he had from the misdemeanors with the City.
He got the fines for driving with out insurance and with an expired license. All this happened not long after his wife died of cancer and he lost it, like many in our culture he didn’t know any response to pain and death but to get drunk or get high. So he lost control of his life and lost his job.
They towed his car and took his expired license. The storage charge on his car was $40 a day. He couldn’t pay so he lost his car.
John missed his court dates because he couldn’t pay the fines and did not want to go to jail. And with the warrant after the second missed court date he could not find a job because everybody now a day runs a background check before giving employment.
But John heard at the Life Recovery Center, Day program for the Homeless at Church of the Reconciler that he could fill out some forms, get them notarized, take them to the Municipal Court and not get arrested. And be assigned Community service hours to get the fines and warrants off his back. He did it. That morning he was glad!
The preacher at the Reconciler also got john an appointment to get his ID restored at the Highlands United Methodist Church. So he had an ID, a non-driver state ID.
So John was not arrested that day on his way to work at 4:30 AM in the morning. But he was late the police delayed him 20 minutes.
Thank God he got a work ticket anyway, $6 an hour for 6 hours, 9 to 3:30. He had to wait until 5:30 PM until they had his check cut for him. John was at the temp agency and job site for 12 ½ hours.
He had a check in his hand for $24.88. $5 deducted for transportation, $6 deducted for lunch and equipment rental, then taxes of course. He couldn’t even rent a cheap motel room for that. He cashed his check at the BP, bought a drink and a bag of chips and had less than $20 in his pocket. He walked by the Captain D’s and bought a fish dinner and walked by the grocery and bought a 2 liter drink, a pack of cigarettes and a snack for breakfast and had $5 left in his pocket.
John was relived to find out that nobody had messed up his camp during the day. Sat down and leaned against the wall and read the Upper Room devotional guide he picked up at the church, by the light coming through an old broken window. He was worried about winter coming, about how to keep warm. He didn’t know what he would do if he got sick, there are no benefits with any of the jobs he can get.
John was wondering how could he get off of the street working like this. He owed over $1,000.00 on back utility bills he still owed after his wife died. He was evicted for non-payment of rent. Lost his credit. And so the only apartment he could find required an up front deposit, first months rent, last months rent. So John was looking at over $2,500.00 to get off the street with only $5 in his pocket.
He checked the old cell phone again hoping the charge would hold until Sunday so he could charge it at church during worship. John set the alarm for 4 AM again. And went to sleep looking forward to Sunday when he could eat his fill again at the Common Meal at the Reconciler.
9/4/06
Isaiah 58 (The Message)
Your Prayers Won't Get Off the Ground
1-3 "Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!Tell my people what's wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!They're busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me.To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring.They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' and love having me on their side.But they also complain, 'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' 3-5"Well, here's why:
"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. You drive your employees much too hard.You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist.The kind of fasting you do won't get your prayers off the ground.Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after: a day to show off humility?To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black?Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?
6-9"This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'
A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins,If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones.You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
13-14"If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage,If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration,If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there—Then you'll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all.I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob." Yes! God says so!
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