Haggai 1 – 2-7 ESV
2024 had 103 errors. His stomach burned as he sent the report to the pastor. Should he peek? Yes, he did. The first report he opened was about a house. Church funds had been used to build a house. From the ground up. The program was asking questions and pointing out that hundreds, yes, hundreds of receipts were missing.
God’s House
No more. He closed the file and started on 2023.
What had he gotten himself into? Instead of eating his sandwich, he walked around the outside perimeter of the fence with his mind and heart heavy. Cheering and grunting filled his ears. Then a scream, followed by more cheering. He ran toward the noise. A group of teenage boys were kicking a homeless man.
“Stop! Stop! Please stop!” Daniel shouted out of breath. It never occurred to him that the boys might turn on him. When they saw him running toward them, they scattered. He helped the man move away from the fence. Across a little creek. Gave the man his lunch. Before leaving.
After work, he took a trash bag back to the spot and gathered up what had been left behind. He jumped out of his skin when a burley voice said, “filthy homeless. Whur’d that sum bitch go?”
This man was a cop. Daniel paused. He couldn’t lie to a cop. “I helped him move across the creek, sir. There were a group of boys beating him up.”
“Should-ah kicked the shit out of him.”
Suddenly Daniel was mad. “If I encounter someone homeless, is there someplace I can direct them to? Or take them?”
“Not in this town. Not welcomed.” He pointed a fat finger at Daniel. “If I had my druthers, the graveyard.” He swaggered off.
Daniel sat in his car and cried.
Sunday, Daniel came face to face with that cop. His wife and 2 children. The cop enthusiastically shook hands with 2 teenagers Daniel thought had been involved in beating up the homeless man. The pastor walked over and put his arms around the boys.
Daniel stole glances at the cop. He nodded and smiled as the preacher spoke of love thy neighbor. Wasn’t that homeless man his neighbor? He was more than willing to let a group of teens beat up another human being just because he was down on his luck.
Poetry & More 
This hits hard. 😔 Loving our neighbor means caring for the weakest and standing up for them, even when it’s uncomfortable.
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Amen. 🙏🏻
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I just know there is so much truth in this. Last week a guy on Fox news said we should just give them (the homeless) all lethal injections if they choose not to accept the help offered- and no one on that stage said a word to refute him. What a sad strange world in which we live.
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I like David Foster Wallace’s suggestion in Infinite Jest. That is, we should try to hug the disadvantaged when we have the opportunity. Nothing more. It’s very hard to do. I’ve done it, but it’s hard. All people need to be reminded that they’re still part of the human race; there’s no difference between human beings but fortune or lack of it.
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Amen
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And we are passing laws to essentially make it illegal to be homeless. 😮 Anyones circumstances can change in the blink of an eye.
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I once had a conversation at the bar where a person said, “you can’t blame the wealthy for being rich.” My answer was, “why not? We blame the poor for being poor.”
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Playing the blame game gets us nowhere. It does seem to be human nature.
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We all need someone to look down on. It’s part of human nature. Not the good part.
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Great comeback 👏
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It’s really a sad story but the truth about our Christian communities. We choose who to love not love as God wants.
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So true
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