Next time I think my life might be a bit of a challenge, I am going to remember this story shared by my friend, Mike, who has a minstry to the homeless in Phoenix.

A man named Lee

Lee was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was beaten by his “friend” who just “went off” on him.

That was April 5. The beating left Lee with a broken jaw and his mouth wired shut.

When we first met him a couple weeks ago he had only eaten minimally since the beating since there wasn’t much of anyone who would help him. He looked really bad. He was underweight. He approached us – clutching a drinking straw – and asked if we could do something… anything…. to help.

So we spoke with Maria, the owner of El Gran Taco where we serve the homeless each Sunday morning, and she made him up a concoction that he could drink through his straw.

It’s strange at times to see what is valuable to people who are living on the streets of Phoenix. When it’s colder it’s sleeping bags and beanies for a head covering. In summer, it’s water. But for Lee it was a straw. That straw was his lifeline.

He was carrying a plastic 32 oz glass, and he asked if we could fill it with the whole milk we provide on Sunday mornings. While we were filling it – filling it to overflowing! – Lee walked away from the crowd, toward a secluded part of the parking lot. He started coughing or gagging or something, I couldn’t tell what was going on. But in a moment or two it was clear: Lee was having a full-on anxiety attack. He just wanted those wires holding his mouth shut to be gone.

I set down the milk and put my hand on Lee’s shoulder. He began to weep uncontrollably. I prayed with him – and then I left him with three words: “Wait right here.” I went back to Maria and made arrangements to have Lee taken care of every day for the next two weeks. Each day at noon Lee will be able to come to El Gran Taco, and Maria will make something for him he can “eat” through that straw of his.

UPDATE: And the AZ Republic this morning:

Attacks on homeless rose during '07
Report faults criminalization of the down and out, exploitative videos
Ted Gregory
Chicago Tribune
Apr. 30, 2008 12:00 AM

Attacks against the homeless across the U.S. rose 13 percent in 2007, a study done by two advocacy groups reported Tuesday.

The latest increase continues a trend that homeless advocates say has been ongoing since the group started tracking those crimes almost a decade ago, a trend worsened by the criminalization of homelessness and popularity of videos showing the exploitation of homeless people.

"Those experiencing homelessness are often ignored or misunderstood by society," said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, a Washington, D.C.-based group that conducted research and compiled a report released Tuesday morning.

"If these brutal attacks were committed against any other religious or minority group to the same degree, there would be a national outcry and call for government intervention," Stoops said.

Key findings of the report, which also was compiled by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, show the number of attacks rising to 160 last year from 142 the year before.

The number of fatal attacks also rose to 28 from 20 deaths in 2006, the report states. In addition, youths ages 13-19 committed 64 percent of the attacks, the findings stated.

The National Coalition for the Homeless, which started compiling statistics in 1999, uses media reports, discussions with advocates and homeless-service providers and interviews with homeless individuals to produce the figures, said Tulin Ozdeger, civil-rights program director for the National Law Center.

Since the NCH began tracking violent crimes against the homeless, the organization has found a total of 217 deaths resulting from attacks in 235 cities representing 45 states and Puerto Rico.

The report, "Hate, Violence and Death on Main Street USA," found the highest number of attacks on the homeless, 29 last year, in Florida, which led the U.S. for the third consecutive year.

California, with 21 attacks, was second, followed by Nevada and Ohio.

The report found six separate attacks on the homeless in Illinois, the same number of violent incidents found in Oregon and Texas in 2007.

"It's a crisis that has grown and not been addressed at any level of government," said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center.

"This leaves people who are homeless extremely vulnerable," Foscarinis added.

Love Song for the love of my life.... Here's to you, June



Forever in Love

"And so there are two dangers to be avoided. First, we must not take our conceptual knowledge of God for what it is not. Second, we must at least take it for what it is. It must neither be underestimated nor overestimated. Both these these excesses end in a practical atheism. If we attribute too much power to our 'clear ideas' of God, we will end up by making ourselves a god in our own image, out of these clear ideas. If we do not grant concepts any power to tell us the truth about God, we will cut off all possible contact between our minds and Him."

Thomas Merton, The Ascent to Truth, p. 96

In the modern debate about how we should treat the earth, people who hold to a Judeo-Christian faith perspective are often attacked as supporting a 'rape the earth' position. (In 1967, Lynn White, Jr published a paper which is often called upon to defend this negative view of the Judeo-Christian environmental ethic.)

This attack is based on a misreading of a key Biblical text:

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. (Genesis 1:28)

The words 'subdue' and 'rule' are pointed to argue that the Judeo-Christian faith promotes destructive use of the earth. This is a misunderstanding of the meaning of these two words. The word translated 'rule' or 'dominion' needs to be understood as a 'rule' or 'dominion' that is in the context of God's dominion over man. This is reinforced with the understanding of the word translated 'subdue'. The context of the word 'subdue' suggests that people are to cultivate the earth. When the farmer is tilling the soil to plant his crop he is 'subduing' or 'cultivating' the soil. Left to its own devices, the soil would not produce corn or wheat or grapes. As the farmer subdues the soil, the soil produces its crop.

Interstingly, what is often forgotten in the critique of the Judeo-Christian view of environmentalism is the number of times the Bible actually teaches its adherents to let the soil rest, to care for the soil because it cares for you and to be a steward of the soil because you are to care for it for God the Creator.

I hope you have a great Earth Day - thinking about how you can 'hug' the earth that shows God's hug for you!

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog titled, "Practical Atheists". I received several good comments from several readers. The gist of these comments suggested that I was being hard on the particular audience I had in mind. These commentators also noted that Jesus himself seemed to have a more compassionate view of doubt that I was espousing.

With that background, I am writing this blog.

Jesus and the early church were very gracious and welcoming of doubters.

One of my favorite texts concerning doubt is this one from the Gospel of St. Matthew, (Chapter 28):

16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; BUT SOME DOUBTED. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (my emphasis)

Reflect on the scene: Jesus is about to leave this world and ascend into the heavens. He has told his disciples to meet him on a mountain for some final instructions. They come to the mountain and SOME DOUBTED! They had seen Jesus crucified, they had seen him being buried, they had seen him in his resurrected form and SOME DOUBTED! Notice Jesus does not point out their doubt, nor he does he challenge them, and nor does he shame them or belittle them. I believe that Jesus is very comfortable with doubters and welcomes them into his circle. Doubters are welcomed!

If you are doubter when it comes to Jesus - I want to say he welcomes you in your doubt.