The forgotten

Hopefully this is a first to a long series of photos from doing street ministry.  When I came out here it is one of the goals I had in mind.  One thing I wanted to do was to get rid of all expectations before I embarked on the experience, but that is very hard to do.  The thing I decided to do was not to sugar coat anything.  I want to describe what its like and express any thoughts that I might have.

I realized why people pretend to not see these people.  They are the outcasts of society.  For whatever reason they have ended up here and its all to easy to just categorize them all as lazy drug users.  That is not always the case, but even if it was the case, why arent we doing something for these people.  We easily judge them because we feel that everyone has had the same life we had.  However not everyone had a family or got a chance to have an education.  Poverty has a vicious cycle about it, one that is almost impossible to get out of.

Once we realize where these people have come from then we can soften our hearts up a little more.  But most of the time we wont allow ourselves to trudge through the trash-filled streets and deal with the smell of urine and fish everywhere.  Nobody wants to be out of their comfort zone.  Its not a glamorous experience by any means.  To be truly honest, it takes the pure of heart to do such a ministry because love is the only thing that can compel a person to love on those that are cast out.  

I pose a question to everyone sitting in their comfort zones...  Is God real in your life?  I asked this the other day and everyone that responded gave an enthusiastic YES!!!, lets see it by actions.  So before you answer that question consider what Jesus said.  He said that if you were blind you would not be at fault but since you claim you can see you will be judged.  If you claim you can see and you claim that God is in your life and working great things within you, then you better be sure.  Where are your actions to prove it?  Where is your fruit?  Fruit is required because its impossible to hide the light once you have it, you are guaranteed to see results of God within you.  

So are you hiding your light, afraid to let it shine in this culture and country?  More to come soon.