For the Love of Us All

WITNESS

2-21-13

HOME OR HOMELESS

We all have homes

RIGHT?

A place to lay our head down

At night-and a roof over our head

WRONG

For anywhere

Between 600,000 and a few million people

ON ANY GIVEN NIGHT

They are going to bed

WITHOUT a roof over their head

And food on the table

(* the actual number-IN AMERICA-

Is difficult to ascertain for various reasons)

In fact,

I have a couple of friends

Who are homeless

And a couple of more

That might be on their way there

There is one thing-though-

That we can ALL agree on

AT LEAST those of us with FAITH

And that is our home

IS WITH THE LORD

“One thing

I ask of the Lord

This is what I seek

That I may dwell

In the house of the Lord

ALL the days of my life

To gaze upon the beauty

Of the Lord

And to seek him

In his temple”                                                               Psalm 27:4

And we KNOW

That Jesus identifies with the homeless

For he once said:

“Foxes have holes

And birds in the air have nests

But the Son of Man

Has no place to lay his head”                                                          Matthew 8:20

So we know that Jesus

LOVES THE HOMELESS

EVERY bit as much

As he loves you and me

PROBABLY more so

For we know

Jesus was a wanderer

And a teacher

And probably had NO HOME

Of his own

The number one reason

For homelessness is poverty

And anyone could wind up there

With a couple of bad breaks

A LOST JOB-a chronic illness

Etc., etc., etc.,

And we know

Jesus identifies with the poor:

“For I was hungry

And you

Gave me something to eat

I was thirsty

And you gave me

Something to drink

I was a stranger

And you invited me in

I needed clothes

And you clothed me

I was sick

And you looked after me

I was in prison

And you came to visit me”                                                          Matthew 25:35-36

And we will say

“When did we do this Lord?”

And he will say,

“I tell you the truth

Whatever you did

For one of

The least brothers of mine

You did for me”                                                                          Matthew 25:40

This poem

Is for my friends

Who are homeless

And ALL people

Who are homeless

For we know,

“There but

For the GRACE of God

Go I”

And we HOPE AND PRAY

ONE DAY-we can all say:

“Surely GOODNESS AND LOVE

Will follow me

ALL the days of my life

And I will dwell

In the house of the LORD-FOREVER”                                                         Psalm 23:6

Robert P. Wallman

2-16-17

Ps        WITNESS        2-21-13