There's Hope! Taking Positive Steps Towards Change

One day I witnessed a ragtag homeless man being shooed away from the mall even if he wanted to buy his coffee just like everybody else. I have countless stories about employers who won’t employ a homeless person or terminate employment when they discover the homelessness.

Once a person becomes homeless, rarely does the larger society care to know what caused that. A stonewall is formed where stereotypes, misconceptions and prejudices flourish to the extent of someone being barred from buying a cup of coffee at a mall.

As such, The Mustard Seed work is monumental. By “intentionally following Jesus Christ” we are able to locate the problems of homeless in the proper context. When people start on drugs or depend on alcohol or put faith in gambling, that’s actually a spiritual crisis. When they abandon or cannot nurture their own kids in the right way of God, the spiritual crisis becomes a community and national problem. Not everyone we serve at The Mustard Seed is struggling with addiction, gambling or alcohol. A great number of people were in fruitful relationships or marriages once, but something small went wrong and they lost all their supports.

From working at the Shelter, I have had the privilege to see guests receive those needed supports to start to address change in their lives. Those guests who take the largest positive steps take the spiritual route: they seek Christ for strength.

The other day, Mark, a former guest I was somewhat scared of when I first began working at the Shelter, paid me a visit. He still called me “Mr Spike Lee.” He was looking really great! He talked about the peace he has, how his marriage has been recovered and how he’s happy about everything. He clearly told me God had saved him from the clutches of his drug and alcohol life.

Another time I bumped into another former guest, John, driving his Jeep Cherokee. He has now found good work in the oil and gas industry. He said too it was God’s love that saved and helped him out of his homelessness.

Everybody falls on hard times sometimes and The Mustard Seed affords such people a second chance to reconstruct their lives.
 
-Josiah, Overnight Support Worker at the Shelter