help for thanks

"It is better to lose your live than to waste it. If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full. This is not a book [Don't Waste Your Life] about how to avoid a wounded life, but how to avoid a wasted life. Some of you will die in the service of Christ. That will not be a tragedy. Treasuring life above Christ is a tragedy." - J. Piper

(After making this post I spent the evening with a close friend that does not have the hope of Jesus. After rock climbing we spent the evening talking about poverty and compassion. After graduating from college with an engineering degree he began working a job that pays very well. People that get pay well are very aware that they are also being taxed well, and because they are being taxed well they feel that they are contributing. I told him that we cannot function on this capitalist view that money buys you an opinion on matters concerning the poor and hopeless. There are people that will never understand their poor neighbor because they do not have a correct view of material wealth. They have made it their salvation. "What can a man give in exchange for his soul?" If we learn anything from the story of the Good Samaritan it is that compassion equals taking the time to invest yourself and not merely resources. Reading John 3:16 we learn that God loved and gave. After we talked, I was able to read him the above passage from John Piper's book define the sharp edge of the line dividing our perspectives. In the end my dear friend, who I love, told me that he cannot think of giving up his weekends to expend himself for the needy. "Not all of us have a hope beyond this life...this life is all I have and I need to have fun." Could I judge him? How often that is the pleading tug of my own heart. Keith Green has a song "I find it hard to just ignore a billion starving people." The truth is that I find it too easy to ignore the starving. I grow accustomed to valuing my life and my heart and my pride. "He who tries to save his life in this world will lose it; he who loses his life for my [Jesus] sake will find it." Jesus present a new value system not as a means of guilt, but as a means of freedom. In Him we have the first-hand benefit of knowing the Creator and understanding how to be the created Imago Dei.)

By only looking I could probably only piece the story together half better than you. His mouth was only half full of teeth. His ripped 50 gallon black trash bag was filled until it was too heavy for his own arms to carry. Jacob and I met him at our table during out free meal at Salvation Army today. We know a good number of the attendees and it provides and opportunity to both reconnect and connect. This is the first time I had seen Donny. It is possible that we had met before, but the story is that Donny, now bald and baby-faced, had all his hair shaved off by his "girl" while he was sleeping. I told him the story of Samson. Donny is homeless. As we sat down Donny began to mumble barely audible words. The food at Sally's usually gives reason for mumbling even if it is free. As lunch let out at Sally's Jacob and I followed the exodus with Donny in tow, walking a few paces behind while I carried his awkward and heavy bag, filled with clothes and bread and apples. We had promised Donny that if he came back with us that we could replace his broken tent and give him warmer clothes for the onsetting winter. Like many who climb the stairs to our clothing closet, they come down with more than they expected. I don't know how to say "no." We have been given to very generously. My only question is how to encourage a thankful spirit. Out of the ten lepers that Jesus healed only one came back to say "thank you" and that was the one commended. The tent we live in will perish (2 Corinthians 5). How do we point beyond the excitement of finally having one warm night of sleep towards an eternity of safety. Continue to pray for wisdom and grace for us as we live open-handed and open-hearted.