Today's student guest post is by Kayley Sanders. She is in her second year completing her M.Div. Kayley is currently living in Wolfville and is serving at New Minas Baptist Church in the area of children and youth.
Hello, my name is Kayley, and I am in my second year of my MDIV specializing in youth ministry. Last summer I had a life changing experience working as a chaplain assistant (intern) at The Mustard Seed in Calgary. The Mustard Seed, a Christian non-profit street ministry, began as a coffee house called the burning bush in the basement of a church in downtown Calgary.
The founder Pat knows the struggles that homeless people face on a
daily basis because he became homeless at the age of 12 when he was kicked out of his house by his step-father. For years, he saw no hope. Sitting for hours, Pat would panhandle on the street corner in order to get enough money to feed his addictions.
On one specific afternoon, Pat began his usual routine, but what he didn’t realize was that his life would change forever. It was around mid-afternoon when four men stopped by to talk to Pat. They told him that they didn’t have any money to give to him, but they could offer him something even better. The four men took Pat out for a meal. When Pat was about to leave to find a place to sleep on the street, the young men asked him where he was going. Pat told them that he was going to find a place to sleep and the men took Pat by the hand and told him that he was going home with them.
They led Pat up the stairs, and all the while he was thinking to himself that there needed to be a catch. He didn’t understand why four strangers were being nice. They opened the door to the spare bedroom, handed him clean clothes, and a fresh razor. The next sound that Pat heard brought a grown man to his knees. It was the sound of the door closing. Something he hadn’t heard since he was 12 years old. That shower he said was the best one he had ever had, but that still didn’t change the reality that Pat still struggled with addictions.
One night Pat decided to steal a stereo system from the two men and disappeared for almost a year. Full of shame and guilt, Pat knew he couldn’t go back and face the men that brought him in off the street, gave him a bed, clothes, and food. He ended up getting arrested for armed robbery and auto theft and was in prison at the age of 16. When he was released shortly after his 18th birthday, he didn’t know where to go. He didn’t know anyone else that would open their door for him, so he went back to the only place he knew. What came next, Pat wasn’t prepared for. The men opened up the door, looked Pat in the eye, and said “welcome home! Are you ready to start again?”
The Mustard Seed works a bit different compared to most shelters because the shelter is not directly downtown. Every morning four buses bring residents from the shelter, which is located about twenty minutes outside town, and drops them off in between the resource building and the sustainable housing unit. I opened the office at 7:30 a.m. and immediately, from the time the first bus arrived, I didn’t stop talking with people until it was time to leave at 4:00 p.m.
There is a huge stigma behind being on social assistance or being homeless. A homeless person is seen as being lazy, or an addict, but if you look into a homeless person’s eyes for more than second, you know there is more to their story. The stories that I heard were incredibly heartbreaking and most times I would end up crying along with them. One thing that I learned is that homelessness stems from broken relationships not only with family, but most importantly with God. These are people who have been deemed as invisible to society and some have been told their entire lives that they are nothing. I found that incredibly sad because we are brothers and sisters in Christ and when a person needs help it’s our responsibility not only as a Christian, but also as decent human beings to reach out a hand to help that person out.
It’s the unimaginable pain and confusion of being 13 years old and knowing that not even your own mother wants you. It’s the lonely and cold nights spent on the streets terrified if that night would be their last. It’s the tears that are seen coming from a person’s eyes as they lay in an alley after they just took a hit a heroin. Lastly, it’s the teenage girl who grew up selling her body to feed her addiction because she was told her entire life that she was worthless. There is a stigma behind homelessness, but in reality these are just people who need to be shown love and be given an extra helping hand.
The founder Pat knows the struggles that homeless people face on a
daily basis because he became homeless at the age of 12 when he was kicked out of his house by his step-father. For years, he saw no hope. Sitting for hours, Pat would panhandle on the street corner in order to get enough money to feed his addictions.
On one specific afternoon, Pat began his usual routine, but what he didn’t realize was that his life would change forever. It was around mid-afternoon when four men stopped by to talk to Pat. They told him that they didn’t have any money to give to him, but they could offer him something even better. The four men took Pat out for a meal. When Pat was about to leave to find a place to sleep on the street, the young men asked him where he was going. Pat told them that he was going to find a place to sleep and the men took Pat by the hand and told him that he was going home with them.
They led Pat up the stairs, and all the while he was thinking to himself that there needed to be a catch. He didn’t understand why four strangers were being nice. They opened the door to the spare bedroom, handed him clean clothes, and a fresh razor. The next sound that Pat heard brought a grown man to his knees. It was the sound of the door closing. Something he hadn’t heard since he was 12 years old. That shower he said was the best one he had ever had, but that still didn’t change the reality that Pat still struggled with addictions.
One night Pat decided to steal a stereo system from the two men and disappeared for almost a year. Full of shame and guilt, Pat knew he couldn’t go back and face the men that brought him in off the street, gave him a bed, clothes, and food. He ended up getting arrested for armed robbery and auto theft and was in prison at the age of 16. When he was released shortly after his 18th birthday, he didn’t know where to go. He didn’t know anyone else that would open their door for him, so he went back to the only place he knew. What came next, Pat wasn’t prepared for. The men opened up the door, looked Pat in the eye, and said “welcome home! Are you ready to start again?”
The Mustard Seed works a bit different compared to most shelters because the shelter is not directly downtown. Every morning four buses bring residents from the shelter, which is located about twenty minutes outside town, and drops them off in between the resource building and the sustainable housing unit. I opened the office at 7:30 a.m. and immediately, from the time the first bus arrived, I didn’t stop talking with people until it was time to leave at 4:00 p.m.
There is a huge stigma behind being on social assistance or being homeless. A homeless person is seen as being lazy, or an addict, but if you look into a homeless person’s eyes for more than second, you know there is more to their story. The stories that I heard were incredibly heartbreaking and most times I would end up crying along with them. One thing that I learned is that homelessness stems from broken relationships not only with family, but most importantly with God. These are people who have been deemed as invisible to society and some have been told their entire lives that they are nothing. I found that incredibly sad because we are brothers and sisters in Christ and when a person needs help it’s our responsibility not only as a Christian, but also as decent human beings to reach out a hand to help that person out.
It’s the unimaginable pain and confusion of being 13 years old and knowing that not even your own mother wants you. It’s the lonely and cold nights spent on the streets terrified if that night would be their last. It’s the tears that are seen coming from a person’s eyes as they lay in an alley after they just took a hit a heroin. Lastly, it’s the teenage girl who grew up selling her body to feed her addiction because she was told her entire life that she was worthless. There is a stigma behind homelessness, but in reality these are just people who need to be shown love and be given an extra helping hand.
Such a touching story, and it is completely true! It's not our job to judge people but to come alongside them in their hurts and pain, in order to show there is hope.
ReplyDelete