See Through the Eyes of Love, and Move with Compassion

Every Friday our team gets to connect with multiple homeless friends. We see some new faces, but mostly familiar ones. We always witness special moments and God’s spirit always renews our conversations and blesses our interactions. Our recent connection with Jeff was one of my favorites.

Jeff is someone we see every week. He is always polite, kind, and joyful. He greets us with a huge smile every time we see him. He is truly thankful for everything he has and doesn’t often find a reason to complain.

When we saw him on Friday, Jeff told us that his birthday was on Tuesday and I couldn’t imagine this sweet and gentle man celebrating his 42nd birthday alone. How could we claim to be his friend and be absent on his birthday? I had the idea to come to Currie Park on Tuesday with a few other leaders to bring him a cake to celebrate his birthday.
The simple answer to why I wanted to get him a cake was because he deserved it. He is a human just like me and humans deserved to be celebrated. Jesus would’ve done the same thing.
He said his mom used to make German chocolate cake for him and how much he loved it. He shared how both his mother and father passed away in the last few years. I felt like the only right response would be to allow him to celebrate his birthday with a proper cake, with people who care. So that’s what we did.

Me and a couple other leaders went to three different Publix locations that week looking specifically for a “German chocolate cake.” All we could find was a regular chocolate cake, so we settled for that.
We got to Currie Park on Tuesday, the day of his birthday. He saw us and said, “since this morning, I have been thinking about how you guys said you’d come!” He said this in the most innocent way, not in a way where he was wondering if we would keep our word, but rather like he knew that we would. Some of his friends gathered around and lit the candles. We sang a happy birthday song to him and encouraged him. We also brought him a card and a couple of toiletry items he asked for.
He ate the cake slowly and hesitantly, almost as if he couldn’t remember the last time he had been truly celebrated.
We stayed with him a little longer and prayed with him.

My heart for people is moved because of Jesus. I have learned that Jesus sees people that we often overlook, and he stops. His eyes of love look deeply into a person and then he responds with compassion, every time. Jesus teaches us, “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you (Matthew 7:12).” Jesus was constantly making his love for the poor known.

We are all poor in our own ways, but Jeff was poor in that he had no mother, no father, no siblings close, and no one to celebrate with him. Our team was able to see Jeff, see his need, and do something about it. We could’ve heard his need and kept walking, but we decided to stop.

I encourage you to see people, and be moved to act by compassion. Your goodness is never for nothing. God sees it all and His reward is far greater than anything we can imagine.

The Give Back Community is really good at treating people as humans, loved and valued. Going beyond our weekly Friday night outreach and loving people like friends is part of our identity.

Live Generously
Ashtyn Rogg