HUMBLED BY THE HOMELESS: EVERYDAY THANKSGIVING
Ephesians 5:20 “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;”
“I’ll take that plastic bag,” the homeless man interrupted my thoughts as I was in the midst of wrapping up my Peanut Butter & Jesus project for the morning, having distributed a whole bunch of homemade sandwiches along with my Gospel tracts and devotionals.
“But the bag is dirty,” I said.
“I don’t care,” the man replied happily. “I can use it to keep my toothbrush in.” He acted as though he had virtually just won the lottery.
I remember feeling bad once for giving a moldy sleeping bag to a homeless man; he was simply grateful for something to keep him warm at night. I asked a homeless man how his peanut butter sandwich was that I had given him the last time I had seen him; I wondered how stale it had been since the bakery bread had been donated and was no longer fresh. The man thoroughly enjoyed his sandwich. One homeless man I know carries around with him one of the books I wrote; he cannot really read, he admitted, but he won’t part with the book. I believe being given a book made him feel special. Perhaps the most humbling experience I have had was hugging a homeless man on a park bench and telling him I loved him; he didn’t want to let go. Who knows when he had last felt loved.
I used to be the most ungrateful person I have ever met on this earth. But the more in love with the Lord I fall, the more I study His Word and watch Him transform my heart and life, and the more I serve Him by sharing the Gospel and ministering His love to a world in need, the more humbled and thankful I am. Humbled by the homeless. Humbled by this world in such dire need. Humbled, most of all, by Him. For what am I thankful most of all? The Lord.
Thanksgiving Day should not be reserved for November. Thanksgiving should be celebrated every day. Do you celebrate Thanksgiving Day every day?
Eph 5:20 “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;”