Goats and Sheep Living Together

Some in down town think that feeding the homeless under the bridge is part of the problem. Such feeding enables the homeless to get by enough to remain chronicly on the streets. They see them as all goats. Most of them are, the ones with a substance abuse problem or the ones with psychiatic disabilities that are not getting proper care. Other than treat them kindly, there is not much you can do for them. In their world, though, kindly is huge.

If you look hard, you sometimes will notice the sheep in line with the goats. The sheep is the mentally disabled women with a severe expressive language problem who needs release from her oppression. Here name was Bebe. She couldn't just get a job. She will not be able to get off the streets without an advocate. She lives among predators who rob and rape her. Or, the sheep is the incontinent 70 year old with alzheimers who doesn't know his own name or where he is from who was told to lock himself in the outhouse all night to remain safe. The sheep is the 40 year old, college educated woman whose husband abused her, burned all of her possessions in a pile in the front yard, and set her out on the streets. These sheep need a shepard.

The goats and the sheeps are together and it is hard to tell who is who. You can give up on the whole project due to the goats but the casualties will be the poor, oppressed sheep.

Doing this kind of work is messy. What would Jesus do if he were living my life?