Do People Choose To Be Homeless?

Luke 9:58 implies Jesus did. Even though he had a job [as God according to Philippians 2:7] and later as a carpenter [according to Mark 6:2-3]. But the working poor of Ohio have not made that choice. They did not choose to be homeless. Two out of three of them are working right now. But can't afford to buy bread. Seventy percent of them are Caucasian. Which means issues of homelessness and poverty aren't about lazy people or race [if they ever were].

That's why I drove down to the Poverty Summit last week in Findlay where I heard the sobering statistics above which blew my mind. Yes, Jesus reprimanded Judas in John 12:8 saying, "The poor you will always have among you." But He didn't say that so Christians would do nothing to help them. Or so we would consistently vote for the presidential candidate who will save us the most in taxes.

The bottom line is the poor need the church more now than ever before. Click the pic to download the "The State of Poverty in Ohio 2008" as a PDF. What is your faith community doing to help the homeless and the poor? Stay tuned next week for a list of Top Ten ideas to do so.