Coming Home

We live in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia is a city.
Cities are full of homeless people.

If you have missed any of this.. ..now you know. Our friend Joe was a fire fighter, lost a leg on the job and half of his body is covered in burns. He began drinking. With no job, a drinking problem, and hopelessness he is now can be found on the streets in Philly. I usually chat with him as I'm rushing into the subway in the morning or at night me and Ted will go out and sit catching up. Joe, his real name, is more of a friend than some people we attend church with. He can only be found the second half of the month because he spends is his monthly disability check on a room for half the month. The rest of the month we see him.

Joe looks out for me. He keeps us in the loop of homeless in our surrounding blocks. And he introduces us to others. He's not perfect. I'm not perfect. Your not perfect. We all aren't perfect with how we handle our lives. We have probably given Joe a small total of $15 in the year we have been friends. Which included buying him several waters when he didn't ask. We have shared our dinner a few times and hope to continue. What Joe continues to thank us for is our friendship. Our neighbors that actually live IN our building pass us up and give the most wretched looks when they see us just befriending the hopeless around us. They too see the same people everyday. To say I haven't been annoyed at a homeless person asking for change would be a LIE. But, I hope I always recognize them as people and not just look over them as if they aren't even there.

One of my other favorite people that lived around us was a girl name Jill. She was beautiful. Short black dreads, tattoes covering most of her body, and so sweet. Jill had a disease that was eating her limbs away. She didn't have legs and had one arm left.

I was started to talk with Jill because she was young. Hearing her story was much like mine. She was a pastors daughter. From one circumstance to the next she choose to be mad at God. We had a lot in common and anytime we talked.. she would laugh. Jill disappeared a few months ago and I wondered why. This past week I found out that she went home. She told another mutual friend 'she had enough of the streets'. She went home. The prodigal coming home. Homeless coming home. What I pray and my prayer for her for months was for her to open her heart up to the Lord.

I do not know what happened when she went home. What I do know is that she passed away a month after being home. I'm thankful for the opportunity God gave me to know her. To pray for her. And I know He is faithful. In the winter, I would sit on my luxury loft window seal and watch her down below covering herself with a blanket. She had to be freezing. I prayed for her and wondered...why am I not on the streets freezing? why not me?


'Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy.' Psalm 82:3