Last night we did not stay in Harrisburg. This is my fault because I was struggling with the effectiveness of it and I was also struggling with the sleep depravity that it brings the next day and the rest of the week. We also got there too late when people were already sleeping. We did get to talk to three people; Charles, Jennifer, and Author. This was the first time we met Author and I don't know if he was on drugs or mentally ill because he wasn't making any sense with what he was saying. It was a blessing to see Charles, who seems to have a strong faith in God, found a friends house to stay at for a while as he tries to find another job. Charles was telling us about his mother in a nursing home and how he likes to go and visit her. When he was younger his mother was ill and under care and wasn't able to be with Charles too much. He made a lot of poor decisions when he was in his late teen years into his twenties that led him down a bad road. People told him his mother wasn't there for him because she didn't love him, which he came to find out was a lie. After drug use Charles went into rehab and was able to break the addiction of drugs and alcohol. He says he's been clean for 22 years now. Around the time that he was in rehab for drugs he went to counseling. His counselor told him that he needed to reconnect with his mother and simply love her for who she is. He told us that after doing that he was able to become close to his mother and has learned that she did not neglect him because she didn't love him but because she was ill. It seemed like that simple concept really changed Charles life, the idea to just love someone for who they are. It's something that we should take to heart as we do ministry as well. Nobody that we meet will be perfect, or even close to perfect, and neither am I, but we have to learn to love people for who they are. I need to learn to not judge anyone that is living on the street because that is not my job, my job is to love them for who they are just as Christ loves us simply for who we are. My prayer is that this mindset will guide me to better serve these people. I think that it can guide all of us. Love people for who they are, not what you expect them to be, not who you think they should be, but for who they are, and from that I believe we can truly serve them better in the name of Christ.
Another way to serve them better is to go in earlier on Saturdays. After deciding to not stay last night Isaac and I had a long talk about the most efficient and affective way to serve the homeless people. We concluded that sleeping on the streets with them is worth doing because it builds a deeper level of friendship by creating a shared experience where we can relate better to them. But we decided to start leaving earlier to spend more time with them in the evenings and not just later at night. This way we might be able to talk to them before they get drunk and help them break addictions instead of telling a drunk man he shouldn't drink. Isaac and I also talked about the importance of balancing this ministry with our school work, social lives, and other activities we are involved with. I think it's something that I need to work on more and pray about. Finding a balance will better allow me to serve those in Harrisburg more and the campus at Messiah College more.
We also have been talking about trying to make a documentary about homelessness and the mission we are doing to try and raise awareness about the issues behind homelessness. We are still in the process of getting everything lined up to do this and we are also trying to figure out our exact vision behind it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If you have any suggestions what the documentary should be about or what we should put in it, let us know.
One last thing I wanted to talk about was this past friday night. We were able to take eight people in, two first timers, and that was a real blessing to see all those people go in. I feel like we were able to reach more people which is awesome.
Please pray for our ministry, and God Bless.
Andrew Breighner
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