I think everyone interested in the plight of the homeless should read Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski. Darby Innerst, who is a faithful volunteer, wrote a review of this book on her facebook account that I wanted to share with our readers.
~Marc
~Marc
As written by Darby,
This book rocked my world! Here are some little bits of a wonderful book called Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski! Wow, it's really given me more of a burden to LOVE the homeless. I want to quit my job and go work in a food kitchen or drug rehab or whatever!! This gives me MORE of a reason to hope for their redemption!!!
Basically this book is about these two guys who live on the streets with the homeless for five months in Denver, Washington DC, Portland, San Francisco, Phoenix, and San Diego. There purpose was to:
1. Understand the homeless and see how the church is responding to their needs.
2. Encourage others to do whatever God is asking them to do.
3. Learn personally what it means to depend on Christ for their daily needs and experience contentment and confidence in Christ.
p. 23- Talking about the author's experiences with the homeless: "We decided to go past the edge with God...when you do, I think that you'll find...a bigger world, and more reason to care for it, more forgotten, ruined, beautiful people than we ever imagined existed, and more reason to hope in their redemption. A greater God and more reason to journey with Him anywhere."
p. 31- I suddenly felt entirely weak, unable, and inadequate to bridge the gap between myself and these people. Then I realized I didn't have to bridge that chasm. That wasn't my responsibility. My responsibility was simply to be there, and to trust that the Lord would use me, that He would bridge the distance. 2 (Tim.1:7)
p. 33- "All that suffering and brokenness in one place was difficult to watch at first...'Come all you who are weary...’ said Jesus. It was moving to watch the weary man come, even more to see his desperation give way to peace, if only for a little while."
p. 38 "Peter's question continued to haunt me. Where should he go? rehab is a good start. A recovering addict has to get clean, then try to build a new life out of rubble....Wondering what Christ had to do with all this. Christ offers us real freedom, eternal freedom in Him. Luke 4 'To proclaim liberty for the prisoners.' I sat there feeling a weighty, yet wonderful truth: some bonds in this life can only be broken by Christ!"
p. 42- "This world was so completely different than the one I had known. Where I had known excess, I now saw only need. In my ear, I sensed attitudes of entitlement being replaced by thankfulness. My understanding of my world was being transformed, and so was I."
p. 46- "If we are the body of Christ- and Christ came not for the healthy but the sick- we need to be fully present in the places where people are most broken. It has to be more than just financial presence. That helps. But too often money is insulation- it conveniently keeps us form ever having to come face-to face with one whose life is in tatters. When we are willing to get down to eating together, listening and telling the truth together, cleaning together, pealing potatoes together, the Gospel comes alive."
p. 48- Mike's response after attending 27 chapel services which 20 were focused on hell and eternal suffering: "Jesus did thunder warning s of suffering and condemnation, but primarily to those who were convinced they were healthy and in no need of Him. To the weak, diseased, hungry, and sin-bound, He had another message. 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. (Matt 11:28)...Telling someone who is suffering deeply that he's going to suffer more is probably a waste of breath. It's like warning someone who is starving that they are about to get really hungry.... I thought of Christ's words, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17) Weren't these well- intentioned speakers condemning the broken for being broken?"
p. 65- "When you are sitting on the sidewalk you are at eye level with babies and kids...They haven't yet learned to ignore what they see, so they can actually take in the world as it is. While kids might pretend people who don't exist do, it's the parents who pretend that unwanted people who do exist don't."
p. 71- "A hungry man can be a fast learner. When you come to a table with nothing but need, you are grateful for things you might have pushed aside before. And when you kneel, hungry and broken at His table, you receive a grace from Him you might, as some other time, have completely missed. You'll know this grace when you take it. It goes deeper, quicker, and it burns all the way down. "
A LOT TO THINK ABOUT!
~Darby
This book rocked my world! Here are some little bits of a wonderful book called Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski! Wow, it's really given me more of a burden to LOVE the homeless. I want to quit my job and go work in a food kitchen or drug rehab or whatever!! This gives me MORE of a reason to hope for their redemption!!!
Basically this book is about these two guys who live on the streets with the homeless for five months in Denver, Washington DC, Portland, San Francisco, Phoenix, and San Diego. There purpose was to:
1. Understand the homeless and see how the church is responding to their needs.
2. Encourage others to do whatever God is asking them to do.
3. Learn personally what it means to depend on Christ for their daily needs and experience contentment and confidence in Christ.
p. 23- Talking about the author's experiences with the homeless: "We decided to go past the edge with God...when you do, I think that you'll find...a bigger world, and more reason to care for it, more forgotten, ruined, beautiful people than we ever imagined existed, and more reason to hope in their redemption. A greater God and more reason to journey with Him anywhere."
p. 31- I suddenly felt entirely weak, unable, and inadequate to bridge the gap between myself and these people. Then I realized I didn't have to bridge that chasm. That wasn't my responsibility. My responsibility was simply to be there, and to trust that the Lord would use me, that He would bridge the distance. 2 (Tim.1:7)
p. 33- "All that suffering and brokenness in one place was difficult to watch at first...'Come all you who are weary...’ said Jesus. It was moving to watch the weary man come, even more to see his desperation give way to peace, if only for a little while."
p. 38 "Peter's question continued to haunt me. Where should he go? rehab is a good start. A recovering addict has to get clean, then try to build a new life out of rubble....Wondering what Christ had to do with all this. Christ offers us real freedom, eternal freedom in Him. Luke 4 'To proclaim liberty for the prisoners.' I sat there feeling a weighty, yet wonderful truth: some bonds in this life can only be broken by Christ!"
p. 42- "This world was so completely different than the one I had known. Where I had known excess, I now saw only need. In my ear, I sensed attitudes of entitlement being replaced by thankfulness. My understanding of my world was being transformed, and so was I."
p. 46- "If we are the body of Christ- and Christ came not for the healthy but the sick- we need to be fully present in the places where people are most broken. It has to be more than just financial presence. That helps. But too often money is insulation- it conveniently keeps us form ever having to come face-to face with one whose life is in tatters. When we are willing to get down to eating together, listening and telling the truth together, cleaning together, pealing potatoes together, the Gospel comes alive."
p. 48- Mike's response after attending 27 chapel services which 20 were focused on hell and eternal suffering: "Jesus did thunder warning s of suffering and condemnation, but primarily to those who were convinced they were healthy and in no need of Him. To the weak, diseased, hungry, and sin-bound, He had another message. 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. (Matt 11:28)...Telling someone who is suffering deeply that he's going to suffer more is probably a waste of breath. It's like warning someone who is starving that they are about to get really hungry.... I thought of Christ's words, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17) Weren't these well- intentioned speakers condemning the broken for being broken?"
p. 65- "When you are sitting on the sidewalk you are at eye level with babies and kids...They haven't yet learned to ignore what they see, so they can actually take in the world as it is. While kids might pretend people who don't exist do, it's the parents who pretend that unwanted people who do exist don't."
p. 71- "A hungry man can be a fast learner. When you come to a table with nothing but need, you are grateful for things you might have pushed aside before. And when you kneel, hungry and broken at His table, you receive a grace from Him you might, as some other time, have completely missed. You'll know this grace when you take it. It goes deeper, quicker, and it burns all the way down. "
A LOT TO THINK ABOUT!
~Darby
