Sometimes I feel like I am incapable of coming up with an original thought. BUT I can certainly recognize good ones when I see them in print. I became aware of some weighty views while reading the sequel to Same Kind of Different as Me. They are the thoughts of Denver Moore, a man with first-hand experience of living homeless—not for a week, or a month, but for many years. Not only that, but he grew up as a sharecropper up until the 1960s and let me tell you, if you think slavery in America ended with the Civil War, take a look at the living conditions of sharecroppers in the 20th century U.S.A. You would be shocked.

This quote might make you squirm a bit, but that is not my intention. I want you to know what is in the heart and mind of a homeless person. We often come in with grand ideas of good deeds and changing lives. Put it to rest. Anything you do for “those less fortunate” should be done to glorify God. I don’t expect everyone who gives of their time or resources to the Sonshine Soup Kitchen to be on the same page about this. I fully accept what people offer at face value. It is up to the giver to work out the whys. Here are the words of Denver from What Difference Do It Make? (©2009 Thomas Nelson, Inc.).

“Now. we was used to some groups comin ever now and then, or maybe on the holidays, like Thanksgivin or Christmas. Ain’t nothing wrong with that, ‘cept it makes the homeless feel like they ain’t nobody special unless it’s some kinda special day.

I can’t blame nobody for just comin on the holidays ‘cause most folks work, and they can’t do nothing but come when it’s a vacation day or maybe on the weekends. I can’t sling no mud about that ‘cause I’ xpect most people doin all they can do. ‘Course, if that ain’t true, maybe they need to think about that.

Them’s the folks I scratch my head about. I just can’t figure out why folks go all year without reaching out to help a brother or a sister ‘cept on Thanksgivin or Christmas or Easter. It’s almost like a light goes on, a lit-up sign in their mind that says, “It’s Thanksgivin. I’m gon’ serve God,” or “It’s Christmas. I’m gon’ serve God.’

What about when it ain’t Thanksgivin or Christmas? Is people hungry on other days besides Thanksgivin? Does they need shoes on other days besides Christmas? God treasures the things we do, not because it’s a special day or special time. All things is special when you doin it for God.

...I ain’t got no way to read the mind a’ God, but I ‘xpect part a’ His business is makin it Christmas for somebody ever day. If all the Christians—I mean all of ‘em—got outta the pews on Sundays and into the streets, we’d shut the city down.

We’d shut down hunger.

We’d shut down loneliness.

We’d shut down the notion that there is any such of a thing as a person that don’t deserve a kind word and a second chance.”