Mad World

Mad World, Billy and Ade, So You Think You Can Dance Tour

A sensitive topic: the interaction between a businessman and a homeless man. What do you do? Do you walk on by? Carry on your business while stepping over a person sleeping in a doorway? I've never felt comfortable just walking on by, but I've also not come up with a good way to help. What I decided overseas was that walking by the beggars on the street was NOT what God would want me to do, not what Jesus would have done. So I gave a coin, maybe some food I had with me. While it wasn't a good long term solution, it was still acknowledging their presence, their need.

Controversial. Reading When Helping Hurts, by Corbett and Fikkert, I know that giving handouts isn't as helpful as we would like to think. It is the easy thing to do. Give a dollar, walk on by. Go on with life and feel good about yourself for helping. There must be a better solution.

And so I continue walking by these homeless people not knowing what to do, yet wanting to acknowledge them, care for them, show them Christ's love. I believe they are worthy of being treated like human beings, and I think many of us find it safer, more comfortable, easier to just walk on by, ignoring the situation, ignoring the person making a request. Some of my friends have said very hurtful things about this type of people, this situation. It's their fault. They could do better if they worked harder. Maybe if they just took a shower... I can't argue that my friends are wrong exactly, in these statements. But I CAN argue that this is not the attitude we are called to have. Looking back to yesterday's blog, I can't help but remember that I am in desperate need of grace myself, so how can I look at others with such a hardened heart?

All this to say, I don't have a solution, I don't know what is the best thing to do, nor the right thing to do, but I love the dance on the video because it brings out the beauty of both people and makes me think about a situation that I face in a different light.