“It’s A Miserable Life” is the third and final part in the “No Room at the Inn” series on homelessness by Chad Houck of http://share5.org

During this series, we have been encouraging you to actively participate in Mark Horvath’s  12 days of Christmas Homeless Push.  So why we didn’t choose to let you know of the push in time for it to end on Christmas Day?  Well, homelessness won’t end on Christmas Day, and the hardest times for a shelter, the greatest needs, come AFTER the holidays – when everyone thinks they’ve done their part.  Thanks to our slight yet intentional delay, your timing should be just about perfect!

No holiday brings out the nostalgia like Christmas.  Every year in my hometown of Boise, ID, Jimmy Stewart’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.” is played on the big screen in our historically restored Egyptian Theatre.  Legend has it that as a young soldier, USAF Col. Jimmy Stewart used to sit in the Egyptian’s orchestra pit and play the piano during his days stationed at nearby Mountain Home Air Force Base.  Those behind the traditional playing of the movie see it as a homecoming of sorts, so every year, with popcorn in hand, locals are treated to the return of Clarence the angel, George Bailey, Mr. Potter, Mary, and ZuZu’s petals.

 If you’ve never seen the movie, allow me to summarize.  George Bailey lives in a small town. As a child he decides that he is going to get out and make something of himself someday.  Time goes on, and he instead stays to support those around him.  One thing after another doesn’t work out, and in an ironic twist of fate, a simple mistake ends up causing George’s world to seemingly crash in on him.  In a moment of struggle and confusion, believing that he has no one he can turn to, George chooses to end his life.

 Sounds like a wonderful movie doesn’t it?  If it were to end there, you would have to say “It’s a miserable life.”  Fortunately for George Bailey, that is not the end of the story.  His suicide attempt is cut short by the entrance of Clarence, his personal, albeit somewhat clumsy, Guardian Angel in training.  Saving George is Clarence’s chance to earn his wings.  George needs Clarence, and ironic as it may sound, Clarence needs George.

 Not long ago I met a man named Dave.  We were both coming out of Walmart at about 7am, headed to a far corner of the parking lot.  I had seen Dave earlier on my way in to get some milk.  Now, headed back out, I was carrying my milk and Dave was still empty handed.  He wore a thick flannel shirt jacket, worn jeans, and work boots.  Living the past year in a number of parking lots as we traveled told me that Dave had spent the night in his car in the same parking lot as us.  He had gone inside to ward off the chill of the 40-degree air. 
“Cold out here, isn’t it?” I said as I walked beside him.

“Yep, chilly” he replied.

“Did you sleep alright?”

Dave’s face went blank.  He seemed (continue reading…)

Hidden in Plain Sight is part two of a three part series on the plight of the homeless written by Chad Houck of http://share5.org specifically for the GivMusic.com blog.

As we approach our Christmas and New Year’s festivities, may we be mindful and purposeful toward those who find themselves without a home this Christmas season, and beyond.  Don’t know where to begin?  Check out the 12 Days of Christmas Homeless Challenge and get started!

As Christmas day draws ever nearer, one of my biggest challenges of living in the small space of a 34’ ever-moving RV is figuring out where to hide Christmas gifts from the prying eyes of my two young children.  It seems that regardless of my craftiest attempts at camouflage, their attentive eyes pick up even the slightest hint that something is out of place. 

My wife is the same way.  While I can’t even find my keys when they are right in front of me, she can spot a deer with a death wish at twilight on the side of the freeway from two hundred yards or more.  She is the ultimate road-trip spotter. (That’s why she gets the co-pilot seat!)  She picks up on everything.  One day in 2007, she picked up on something that would literally change our very lives.

We had just left church on a sunny Sunday afternoon in March in Boise, ID. I needed a few things for my honey-do chores back home, and I knew I would find what I needed at either Wal-Mart or Lowes.  Since the two are side by side, I figured it would be a quick trip.  Pulling into the Wal-Mart parking lot, I took my normal shortcut through the back corner towards Lowes.  “Oh my gosh” Amy gasped, in a tone that typically meant I was about to ram headfirst into something.  I swerved, not knowing what I was trying to avoid, and came to a stop. 

 “What?!?  What is it?”

“Over there – look at that car”

“What about it?”

“There is someone inside it”

“All I see is bags in the windshield”

“I mean there is someone living inside it,” she said.

Actual photo of the 4 cars at Walmart. John's van is on the left.

Suddenly, it was as if a pair of glasses were placed over my eyes and what before had merely been part of the background stepped into the foreground and came into clear focus.  Not only was there a person in that car, but there were 6 or 7 other cars, vans, and trucks in that corner, each with a person or family in them.  We had just come face to face with the mobile homeless.  They were there all along, but for whatever reason, we had failed to take notice.

 In the days that followed I could not shake the fact that an small population of people in need were literally living in a parking lot less than 2 miles from the church I had been attending for over 3 years.  The following Sunday we headed back to Walmart.  This time, I wanted to know more.

 As I pulled up, Amy asked me what I planned to do.  “I don’t know.  Give me 5 minutes”, I responded.  I parked our minivan and walked toward the man who climbed back into his van as we approached.  I wanted to know his story.  He had been a cook.  He had been a construction worker.  He was disabled in an accident but denied disability, and when he couldn’t pay for his mortgage and his pain meds, he lost his home.  Now he had to do without both.  He was a father and a grandfather, yet his own daughter would not allow him to see his granddaughter because she was ashamed of the fact that he had lost his home.  She didn’t know how to explain to her four year old that he lived in a van, so instead, she forbade him to come around.  Without family, without income, and without a home, he had come here.  His name was John.

In the weeks that followed, my wife and I got to know John better, and we came to know several of the others that lived there as well.  When Easter came around, we made up an invitation and hosted a dinner for them at our church.  When they didn’t show (continue reading…)

The following is the first of a three part series on the plight of the homeless written by Chad Houck of http://share5.org specifically for the GivMusic.com blog.  As we approach our Christmas and New Year’s festivities, may we be mindful and purposeful toward those who find themselves without a home this Christmas season, and beyond.  Don’t know where to begin?  Check out the 12 Days of Christmas Homeless Challenge and get started!

He Learned Their Names

 Now I lay me down to sleep. 

My bed will be the cold hard street. 

I am not here because of choice.

I’ve lost my face.  I’ve lost my voice.

I bow my head, chained down by shame.

Then along came one who learned my name.

 He took my hand and helped me up.

He filled my soul when he filled my cup.

He asked me what I’d like to say

To those who’d never looked my way.

He didn’t ask who was to blame,

He just listened, yet I’m not the same.

I’m not invisible any longer.

My struggles, my story, have made me stronger.

I’m a father, a mother, a child, a wife

A husband, a daughter, a son… a life.

A once smoldering ash is now a flame.

All because he learned my name.

You can learn it too at http://invisiblepeople.tv

In the heart of one of Southern California’s highest concentration of homeless people is a man who not only knows the names of many of those on the streets, he has a first hand understanding of their pain.  He has personally experienced the hopelessness and fear that accompanies waking up one day and finding yourself without a home.  He has the unique position of having been on both sides of the story, as the one who once overlooked the homeless, and as one who has been the overlooked. Today he tells their stories because in each of them is a small piece of his own.  They are the invisible people. His name is Mark Horvath, perhaps better known as @hardlynormal.

“The invisible… didn’t intend to become homeless. I didn’t plan on living on the street. Everyone on the streets has their own story, some made bad decisions, others were victims, but none of them deserve what they have been left with, and it is a reflection of our own society that we just leave them there.  Please always remember, the homeless people you’ll ignore today were much like you not so long ago.” – From his website at http://invisiblepeople.tv

Up Next: Part II – Hidden in Plain Sight

You can learn more about Mark and the stories of those he knows by name by following him on twitter at @hardlynormal or by viewing his website, http://InvisiblePeople.tv  Mark is currently staffing the winter shelters in and around Los Angeles as a homeless advocate, and recently wrapped up a 2009 Roadtrip Tour of US tent cities, putting a face and a name to homelessness across America.

Chad Houck (@chadhouck, http://share5.org) and his family met Mark online through twitter, and later had the opportunity to serve alongside of Mark in the shelters of Hollywood and LA’s Skid Row.  Through their interactions with Mark and those he calls by name, they have gained a distinctly different perspective on the human issues within the issue of homelessness.  Chad featured Mark’s story in his upcoming book, “Share Well With Others.”