From a Facebook friend - 38 year old - dad must be between 60-68 or so...
My Dad said that he thinks that like 90 percent of homeless people had a problem with drinking or drugs. True?
Response:
Thanks for the question xxxxx,
Not sure what the % is but yes, that's a major one - also mental health issues along with the drinking or drugs, off their meds.
But the demographics have changed dramatically since 2008 when the housing market crashed & all that's followed on...
Not the usual suspects - why they're doing drugs & drinking is the issue - addictions usually have an underlying cause of abuse, low self esteem or bad parenting - but it's really how an individual copes with those issues too.
That's why we're heavy on the Love thing as we have found that when Love & non-judgmental attitudes are shown the confidence to address the underlying issue & deal with what got them homeless comes & the healing starts!
Hope that helps, sorry for the long winded answer!
It's all in identifying with the person that healing can start.
I would suggest if you feel like it sharing the site http://invisiblepeople.tv/ with your Dad might let him hear some of the stories - that's where the connection to the reasons occurs, when you hear real people telling their stories.
Something for all of us to ponder! You know it's true - we must have discernment in our giving but not in our loving! We serve the needy & the greedy & the Lord takes care of the rest! Right? How do you decide to share your blessings? Are there still some criteria that should be used to make those decisions? How does He speak to you when you're deciding? Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Wonderful support approach - everybody who sees homeless people on the street remember how easy it would be to hand them one of these! Also there is a group in AK (fb: http://www.facebook.com/3Bagsin2Days) website (http://3bagsin2days.org/) that does some great work too!
We as Christians are often challenged to support the notion that our Nation was created with certain unalienable rights, "ordained by God, our creator", and we use the Constitution & Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Amendments to the Constitution, the freeing of slaves by Lincoln & a whole raft of other material to support our position.
Today, while getting my car serviced to get ready to go the NAEH Annual Conference next week where we will deal with the issues around ending homelessness, meet with Congressional delegations & otherwise work to advocate for the government of the People to invest more, sustain current levels for some programs & "Ask" for new funding for demonstration programs, I was struggling with what I would say to the delegations in Congress we are likely to meet with next Friday afternoon as we have our Capitol Hill Day (a part of the Conference every year).
I now have something to tie the reason our country was formed (the first "government" established within the Mayflower Compact) as being "undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith"!
I also have a reason to bring the spiritual (biblical) requirement to "Love our Neighbor, Love the Homeless", the mission of our Advocacy (with a faith-based approach to applying this Love to ending homelessness) into a discussion of solutions to ending homelessness.
This is groundbreaking news for ME! This is also God-sent!
You see I just happened to be in the office of a friend who works there waiting for the work to be done & talking with people as they came in & out (customers & employees) of the office. One man came in & was immediately engaging, honest in his discussions about issues that disabled his truck & as the conversation progressed (he had heard of my trip & wanted to know more) it led into various areas.
"Religion" was discussed once it came very naturally into the talk! You see these are people of the Lord who can share & discuss humane treatment of homeless people based on the Love of the Lord, not on stereotypical comments regarding addictions for example. In fact, we talked about people who choose to be homeless. The discussion went to the fact that some of those homeless people who felt that way were in fact "there" because of their mental or addictive behavior issues. If they could break the chains of those issues in their lives they might not "want" to be homeless any more!
I probably studied about the Mayflower Compact in school at some point but certainly didn't remember it, nor have I heard it presented in any way in these discussions of God in the government!
I have had Pastors tie the formation of Israel & tying it to the Bible as a historical perspective on our allegiance to Israel in its current boundaries. I have heard Benjamin Netanyahu express eloquently his feelings about the formation of our country in a Fox News interview (with Youtube video embedded below & link to transcript below the video) when he was in our country recently as being tied to the Bible & being OF GOD. He was also talking about how he views the documents which are commonly presented to us in these discussion & memorialized in our monuments along the Potomac that he loves to walk by every time he is in our country.
So, going on to the Compact now, when doing a quick Google search from my smartphone in order to help our newfound friend refresh his memory & validate what he remembered hearing in the radio discussion he had heard while driving his truck along the roads of our country over the 4th we found this link among others from which we quote the relevant part.
'In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620.'"
So now that we have revealed this information in context of tying God to government to advocacy we want to ask for prayer from all who read this post! Specifically, prayer that will enable God to intervene in the proceedings next week & make His will known to us who are communicating on His behalf to the lawmakers we meet with.
Please comment on this post with your prayers so others may verbalize them to God & he will hear consistent prayer from those who desire a successful interdiction. We need intercessory prayer on our behalf & seek it here.
Netanyahu Interview:
To read the full interview please check out the Attorneys Defending Israel blog post that presented the same video as above with a transcript of & commentary on this interview!
First night out of the shelter! Housed finally in a sort of transitional setting! But it's GR8 to finally make it out of the "system" - a steady job, income, with lots of support from those who care! #fb
The story is accessible on the NBC site where we can feel free to tell NBC & a lot of folks who use Getglue.com what we think as advocates & homeless people about the story!
We are currently researching how NBC did their research on this script & whether they engaged any service providers or other advocates in LA to make the story as realistic as possible!
This is only the segment where the prosecutor makes his closing arguments - the whole episode should show up on Hulu.com soon we hope!
A MUST read for anybody anticipating or wanting to be a volunteer serving the homeless - maybe if you never even thought about it this post will mnake you want to see what it feels like to give the love of the Lord through these types of ministries to the homeless.
We have several of these opportunities in Savannah - contact us if you're interested!!
Look at our pages on Facebook: HomelessnessInSavannah GeekTheHomeless & VoxPatriainSavannah to see more about serving the homeless!!!
Check this out WSAV News 3 On Your Side WTOC-TV WJCL FOX28 The Coastal Source ...
