A miracle at Christmas... THORN-memories
There's still NO Room at the INN...
For the first time in my 46 ( now 62.. reposting) years, Christmas felt like an overwhelming hurdle I just wanted to get over. In fact, with twelve children of my own, and six beautiful grand babies the thought of buying gifts was daunting.
After all, I have walked through the slums of Haiti, spent time visiting the poorest of the poor of both Jamaica and Samoa and have 'fallen in love' with the poor. Buying things... hurts me, because I have seen what many have not, so I know what a difference $50 dollars can make to an entire family, instead of just one more game or skateboard that will be broken within weeks and will yield weeks of bickering and jealousy, instead of joy and laughter. But I do it... because I want to show them the two sides of Christmas and what it is really about.
Here on the streets of our beautiful city, beneath the overpasses, behind dumpsters, in the woods and under the Crosstown expressway stand a few hundred displaced, homeless people- whose lives have been turned upside down by , alcohol, substance abuse, petty crime, broken family relations and many with post traumatic stress. Others are elderly men and women who simply run out of money at the end of the month and come to us for just a little love and support.
For tens years now, since the near drowning of my youngest son, my eyes were opened to the depth of suffering people experience when something happens out of your control and your world seems to crumble beneath your feet. To see the 'miraculous' healing of our child and to chalk that up as good medicine or karma... would have put an end to the plan God had birthed in the manger of my heart. Instead it gave me a passion so great... that is has grown from one plate of food... to hundreds of thousands since 1997.
I formed a ministry called T.H.O.R.N., which stands for : Thankfully helping others real needs. I did that so that we could branch in many directions as God lead us. To the glory of God, we have fed 400-1000 people a week, since 1997, out of everything from a van to lawn trailer and now a food trailer. We have looked behind dumpsters and picked up the lost and forgotten and have given them a glimpse of hope that there is still love out there for them.
As the lights adorn the thousands of homes in our county and as the malls are cluttered with people stressing over what to buy their children who, most often... already have more than they need, there are those who are truly suffering.
The temperature was dropping this particular night into the 4o's. We were scurrying around trying to give each man either a blanket, sock for his hands and feet, a coat... layers of clothing, just about anything we could think of to make the next few days tolerable. At one such stop we found a broken down , blue Chevy... with what seemed like... Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. Here all these years I believed they arrived on a donkey.
Under our own Crosstown, in a car on it's last legs were a couple who had just given birth to a baby boy just 5 days prior.... in their apartment, alone. They had hopes to make it to Jacksonville for a new job offer, but the baby decided it was time to come 3 weeks early, so all plans changed. There in the car, lay the beautiful mother, who appeared very lifeless and sick, the father was in tears, lovingly concerned for their well-being, but had no clear direction, and the baby... pure and holy... sleeping in the back seat.
Our group provided blankets and food and even some gas money. Just then the words clearly came to my mind... "Can you see, not much has changed in 2000 years... there is still NO ROOM at the INN."
I could not turn away from the couple and invited them home with me.
Many say that is foolish, many worry about disease, robbery and the safety of their own children. Many wondered how I would ever get them to leave.. .once they came in. Many questioned how I could afford to feed them and host them ... and went on to assume I would know any of these answers, when the only answer I knew.. was a simple "YES".
We drove home with our Mary, Joseph and Jesus.... and placed them in the manger of our home.
We cared for them... as if they were Jesus himself and I included my children in the care of the infant.
The entire family fell in love with them all.
That night it became clear to me.. the mother was very ill and needed to be hospitalized.
The following morning she was taken to St. Joseph's where they discovered she was very ill.
So our "Joseph's" dilemma... is to find a job... that can provide for himself, the baby and his very ill girlfriend.
They are a 'family'.. in every sense of the world.
But the world is unkind and unforgiving. Someone without roots will be cast about this city like a leaf on a field. But where do you find roots.. .in a community of professed Christians who still fear being Christ-like?
Our little baby.. cannot be seen by any doctors, because they are all afraid of lawsuits, with mom in the hospital for an undetermined amount of time, people criticize that I am being used and taken advantage of when they must have dug a hole and are now being faced with the results of their mistakes.
This may be completely true. But in a City with money flying in every direction, with open lots that could be used to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and find those who are on the brink of losing hope- there is an political undercurrent trying to force those who help the homeless to fold up their tables and give up.
The mark of a true Christian ... isn't what they say, nor how much money they can collect to build the best church in town, how many television stations will air what they have to say. The true mark of a Christian is one who takes off their shoes when there is someone who needs them more than you. When you open your door to those who have no one, when you visit the sick, lonely and imprisoned...even if they don't deserve it.
I feel my children are experiencing a "Living Nativity Scene"... the kind that they will never forget.
One , which may include heartache and pain.. but will leave them realizing that the choices they make today... will effect the rest of their spiritual lives.
Could I have left them under the bridge? NO... because if I had, she would have died.
Could I have given them money to go to a shelter? NO, because they are not married and will be turned away.
Could I have simply prayed a prayer that things might improve for them and turn away.
I most surely could have. But.. in doing so... I would have lost the chance to show someone what true love and true Christianity... Christmas... is all about.
We don't celebrate what we can give in the form of gifts as much as we share how we can give from our hearts and make a permanent impression on the lives of someone who has lost their way.
I may only be the donkey that carries Mary to the manger. But the manger has become my home.. and I truly believe that this Christmas.. my children will see that Jesus was born... in the manger of our hearts.
Friends have been coming over kiddingly saying they are the 3 Kings bearing gifts of diapers, gas cards and food. In this day and age... that .. is a treasure worth giving a child.. who is precious to God.
Because you may just save a family from falling apart.
This ministry has fed the homeless in the Tampa area for over 25 years and has helped to change the attitude of the entire island of Samoa towards the handicapped as well as provide schools and medical services for the people there.
Believe me: They are the real deal when it comes to sharing the love of God.
