“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 astonished that I knew he had slept in his car.  Realizing he would quickly try to escape the conversation, I immediately followed up by asking him if he had eaten.  He said no, and I asked if he liked coffee. 

“Sure” he replied.

“Then come on in.  I’ll make you some breakfast, and the coffee’s already started.”

First came a look of both confusion and disbelief, followed by about a 7 second delay as if he thought he was being set up or tricked.  With another encouraging “come on” from me, Dave stepped into our RV and took the seat that I offered him on the couch.

Within seconds, my kids were at his side.  Knowing he was in good hands, I set about making him a couple of breakfast burritos.  When they were ready, I sat him at the table, put his food on a real plate, and poured him a cup of hot coffee in a mug.  This was not a “to-go” meal.

Dave and I sat and talked and he shared a story not entirely different than that of George Bailey.  One circumstance after another had caved in on him, and now he had nowhere left to turn.  He said that he didn’t know if God still cared.  I told him that the food in front of him was a message from God sent by a courier to remind him that He did. 

As we wrapped up our meal, my kids handed Dave a care package with some candy, two water bottles, granola bars, a few drawings, and some socks.  Inside was a postcard with the message, “We hope that this package provides you with something of value, but more importantly reminds you that you are someone of value.” 

With the encouragement of Clarence and a little divine intervention, George Bailey realizes that the world would not have been a better place if he were never born.  As  Christmas Eve descends, he returns to his home, to his family, and to his community, where he finds that the very people that he thought would never miss him had come together to support him.  We never see Clarence again, but we know he got his wings. 

I knew I couldn’t fix Dave’s problem that day, but that wasn’t the point.  I was simply giving him what I could, providing him with the hope he needed to make it through another day, perhaps another week.  I was making sure the movie didn’t end too early.  On that particular morning, Dave needed to hear that he was valued.  Perhaps even more profoundly, however, I needed Dave to remind me that unless I choose to respond to those put before me, people in need will have needs that go unmet. 

As we wrap up this series, and as you go on your way this Christmas, challenge yourself to reflect. Take a moment to reread the 12 days of Christmas Homeless Push.   Ask yourself – Have you overlooked the homeless, lending to their invisibility, and if so, how can you begin to learn their names?  With open eyes that can clearly see the precious person and life that is before you, how can YOU give YOU?   We look forward to hearing your GivStories back here at GivMusic.com, and Merry Christmas.

Read Part I – No Room at the Inn 

Read Part II – Hidden in Plain Sight

Chad Houck is the director of Share5.  Along with his wife and two children, he has spent the last 14 months living in a 35’ motorhome, traveling the United States sharing their lives and their hearts with people and communities in need.  You can learn more about them at their website at http://share5.org.  Chad will be releasing his first book, “Share Well With Others” in early 2010.  It was begun in January of 2009.

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 up and we realized our error (expecting them to leave their world and enter ours) we packed up the dinner and took it to them.  Some were reluctant to come out, and yet others were more than happy to sit and eat pot roast, turkey, and deserts with us from the back of our minivan on paper plates.

John moved on that summer.  One day I stopped at the parking lot and he was simply gone.  I don’t know where he went, but I know that his story and his struggle have deeply impacted our lives.  He was a gift to us, opened slowly as we took the time to learn the value that he held in his damaged and discarded state.  The journey he helped us begin has now led us literally 589 miles short of the distance it would take to circumnavigate the earth at the equator (24,890 miles if you were wondering.)  It has taken us to over 20 US states and to Mexico four times.  Who would have ever imagined that a homeless man would help to launch a ministry, and maybe even a movement, simply by being hidden in plain sight.

Read Part I – No Room at the Inn 

Up Next: Part III – It’s A Miserable Life 

Chad Houck and his wife Amy are the founders of World Wins International and Share5.org.  In October 2008, they launched the Share5 Tour, a grassroots experiment to impact people and communities by sharing 5 Christ-like character traits with others through specific and intentional acts of sharing.  They have now, as a full time road-tripping family, traveled just shy of 22,000 miles by RV and another 3,000 by air as they seek to “share well with others.”  You can read more about their journey and their stories at http://share5.org

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.”

These are the stories of a few homeless youth in America. They can tell you how to sleep without being seen, how to live in an abandoned house, and how to survive off of a can of peanut butter a week. They each have a reason why they are homeless. Most of them did not choose this life. Take a few moments to watch this video by The New York Times. Hopefully this will change the way you view homelessness in America.

Stay tuned for future posts. We are going to dig deeper into this issue and show you several ways that you can get involved with the homeless in your community.

A GivStory by Ryan Lampa | Nashville Tennessee

Ron used to come to my house almost every other day. We’d talk about everyting from old war stories to Nashville’s weather. Ron was homeless and has been for 20 some years. Ron had a son and wife years back that were taken in separate tragic car accidents. After losing his family, everything started gradually falling away. He started running towards alcohol. The alcoholism led to his homelessness.I would get Ron extra food around the house, and sometimes would give him a few dollars here and there. Day, night, drunk or sober, Ron broke my heart. He was struggling to just find his next distraction from his current state of depression and homelessness.

I offered him a program that as long as he would bring a receipt back showing he purchased food, I would give him $5 every time he returned. He instantly and harshly declined. He did not want to change from his alcoholism. He trusted nothing else. The streets and the bottle were his constants. I found that I was being generous with out having a purpose. What was I really trying to do? Was I trying to heal him from a 20 year alcoholism and pull him from the streets by just merely keeping him accountable?

I was wanting to “make a difference” and “change a life”. But was I really on a road to doing that?

I wanted to get to know the homeless community of downtown Nashville. So I got to know them. I stopped ignoring those asking for money on the streets. I invited those that asked for a meal to sit and eat with me. I sat and listened to stories. The realization was that there are many issues that are going to take much more than just being generous. Even feeding the body can only reach so far. The question I asked myself was: “Am I doing this out of love?” Really and truly deep down, I wasn’t sure.
November of 2008, a group of friends made 6 meals to pass out in the cold of winter to Nashville’s homeless. It made a significant impact on us to see how excited people were to have a warm meal and that we really were just doing this out of love. Not to “make a difference” but to simply feed 6 people who may not have eaten that day. We didn’t want to get caught up in being a “ministry” and just came to minister. This eventually led to a clothing drive to start donating clothes. We would gather on Mondays and make a few meals, then pass them out on the streets along with a few backpacks of clothes. God went on to bless this beyond what we ever imagined.

We now have grown to feeding and clothing nearly 130-150 people every monday on the streets of downtown Nashville. We found that simply giving out of love breaks down walls. We’ve asked the homeless community what their greatest needs were. They say “we need to be noticed, acknowledged and most of all loved”. So w! e have come to do so. Whether that be a listening ear, a warm meal, a new pair of shoes or a prayer.
We are all self funded. Some people send in money if they are unable to attend, others send clothes, food and blankets. Others find out ways to get us clothes, food and blankets. God has always blessed us with resources. He has blessed us with resources through people that have answered the call of Matthew 25:31-46. We are a fun filled bunch! Young and old, employed and “not so employed”, fat, skinny, churched, un-churched, believers, strivers, weak and strong… But all powered by love and friendship. The love that only comes from Christ. Love is our first priority.  The needs of the homeless change some times, but mostly stay the same.  Ask for more info to see what the current need is. We have learned that we have had not, because we did not ask. I am now asking for assistance.

There is a great need for clothing, food and blankets for the homeless of Nashville. It will only take willing hearts to fulfill these needs.
I am always open to speak about anything and everything regarding the love we share. Let me know if you’d like to talk!

www.peoplelovingnashville.com