What I learned from the homeless...

I had the priviledge of spending a week in Austin, TX with a team of about 20 teenagers on a life changing mission trip. Those of you who know about Austin, know that Austin's motto is "Keep Austin Weird!" And If you have ever been to Austin,TX you know that Austin is just that...WEIRD! From the people you see, to the buildings downtown, to the art on buildings...even the music in Austin is weird.

I LOVE Austin, we did some amazing things while we were there. We saw 1.5 million female bats come from under a bridge at dusk to travel north for food. We went to visit the state capitol, we participated in a ghost tour, we even ate ice cream at the famous Amy's Ice Cream parlor. But, our main goal was to help with the homelessness issue in Austin! According to the most recent studies, on a given night there are about 2,300 Austinians living on the streets of Austin. We got a chance to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the homeless and hungry community of Austin.

During my devotion time, I came across a passage in the bible where Jesus was approached by a scribe in Capernaum. The Scribe began to say how he would follow Jesus wherever he went. Jesus replies to him with some powerful words. He says, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests. But the son of man has nowhere to lay his head!"(Matthew 8:20)

I began to ask myself, "Why would Jesus say this?" Whether it was in the home of one of his followers or on a rock under a tree, Jesus certainly had a place to lay his head.

I think Jesus wants the scribe to understand (you and I also), that though Jesus had a place to lay his head, it was only temporary. Jesus realized that even though he lived on earth, his eternal home was in Heaven, therefore he lived that way.

In Austin, we passed by homeless people everytime we stepped out of our dorms. Something I noticed was that the streets looks different every night. I would see one homeless person sleeping on one corner one night and the next night he was no where to be found. Not necessarily because he was no longer homeless, but because he saw his home as temporary. Could it be that homeless people are closer to Jesus than we are in this sense?

Here are a few questions to ponder with me...

Do you live as though your home (on earth) is temporary?

Do you look forward to your heavenly home or are you overly content with your earthly home?

Philippians 3:20 "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ."