homeless dirty HIV+ crack whore

Tuesday was a typical day. I had a full day of meetings at the church office: One meeting after another from 6:30am to 4:00pm. Afterwards I took a half hour collecting my things, answering a few emails, and I was the last one in the office, ready to lock up and head home for dinner with my family when up rolled Josie* to the side door. She told me she just got kicked out of the shelter. It’s not unusual for a homeless person to walk into our church office looking for a little help, and usually a couple bucks, or a couple cans of food from our pantry fixes the need and they are off. But Josie needed something else. First, she needed pants. The smell of urine burned my eyes as I talked with her. We don’t usually have an extra pair of pants hanging around, but she asked me if I’d look for some. I obliged her. And to my surprise, in a closet, I found two pair of pants in her size. While I was looking, Josie discovered a counter filled with 2-liters of Coke left over from our church Big Game party. She helped herself to a cup. “Coke is my favorite” she said. In the meantime I called my friend who works on the streets near the shelter to see if he had a solution for Josie. I hoped the solution would take him 15 minutes or so, it turned into an hour. In the meantime, I just got to know Josie. It didn’t take but a few moments for her to tell me her life story, that she was a homeless HIV positive former crack whore. She showed me her 14-inch scar from her recent knee surgery. She has a mom and dad, a sixteen-year-old son, but pretty much has burned those bridges. Now she’s sleeping on a matt on the floor in an over-flow homeless shelter. She claimed they kicked her out because she can’t control her bladder. I’ve been asking myself recently, “What would happen if I loved everyone like God loves?” Josie presented a pretty challenging test of my love. My friend arrived an hour after I met Josie, we got her into his car. I gave her a 2 Liter of Coke, a hug and a smile. The look of surprise on her face was priceless. God is love. God blesses. God redeems. God loves us even in the filth of our sin. “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Hebrews 10:23-24 *not Josie’s real name