Christian walked over to Talk’s door and let him out as he did every day. As he did, Christian glanced over his shoulder at the door behind him: the door to Action’s room. Christian sighed. He used to like Action. He worked well and accomplished much. But lately, Action had become difficult, time-consuming, and costly. Christian preferred Talk. Talk was easier to work with and worked for free. Closing the door behind him, Christian walked to the door leading outside with Talk at his heels. -by Joseph | A man holds a sign that says get rid of the poor. “Lazy!” he shouts. “Drunks!” People stop to argue against his remarks. “Ignorant!” “Rude.” “Not right.” But . . . when a man holds a “God bless” sign, asking for change we ignore the needy. No one stops. No one glances . . . What’s the difference in a man who hates the needy, not helping them in any way, and a man caring and not taking any action? There is no difference. We care. I know we do, but why don’t we take action? - by Maxine |
Our youth group went down to the laundry-mat to help pay for people’s laundry. There weren’t many people there, but I specifically remember one lady who came in to get her dry cleaning. We all wanted to help her out; so we put all our quarters together and paid for her dry cleaning. She was so thankful. A guy also came in to do his laundry; we paid for his laundry, too. I will never forget the smile he gave us. So, I encourage you to try it and see for yourself. You’ll never forget the smile they will give you.
by C. King
For many years, I lived oblivious to the poverty in my community. Never once did it occur to me how many homeless there are in my hometown of Fayetteville. Whenever I would see someone walking down the road holding up “Feed Me. I’m homeless. God Bless” signs, I would roll my eyes and think badly about the person. Rather quickly, I categorized all homeless into the same, good-for-nothing category. “They must have been on drugs. I’m sure they did something stupid to be in that position” crossed my mind on multiple occasions. It wasn’t until my church family and I began taking part in a homeless outreach ministry that I began to see homeless people as people rather than societal leeches. The first time I went, I was scared and nervous. I was going to be in close proximity to these dangerous people with nothing to protect me. Anytime a homeless person approached me, I made sure my father was nearby. I learned quickly, however, that these people are little different compared to the people I am surrounded by on a regular basis. When I got home that night, I remember being so thankful for hot running water, my toilet, my bed sheets, and toothpaste. Simple household items which I had taken for granted before never meant more to me. That night I began to realize that even though my family is far from perfect, I have a family. Even though my house is not the fanciest, its walls are insulated and its roof is sound. It was in that moment as I lay in my bed that I realized that I really have everything I need. by Ethan Bac k in November, our community group at Liberty Christian Academy went to the Bicycle Man’s Shop to help clean the warehouse and repair bikes. I had always thought the Bicycle Shop was a great place; my opinion still hasn’t changed, but, instead, it has grown stronger due to the fact that they bring joy to a lot of people. I didn’t know how long it took to repair those bikes until I actually helped. It can take up to an hour to get just one bike done—the stuff they have to do just to finish the bike is crazy precise. The thought that they just work for the smiles on people’s faces and not money is amazing.
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