Open Eyes...

Last night all of us interns decided to go out to downtown Palo Alto. (Not EastPA, just PA...A whole other city. You would have to see it to believe it! Literally from ghetto to million dollar homes!) After parking, walking, dancing (Not me of course. And it was in the plaza where some street band was performing for free :p), and getting some delicious frozen yogurt from "Yogurt Land" [Which btw is the BEST frozen yogurt I have had. I am SO in love with the Taro Frozen Yogurt! Ugh, SOOO Freakin good! I love Red Mango but I think Yogurt Land out beats Red Mango and its ONLY in Cali as far as I know :*( ] Anyway after getting some Yogurt Land frozen yogurt, my group was approached by a homeless man. Of course he approaches me first, and as a Chicagoan I kind of ignore him. I know that was mean of me, and I have nothing to justify my action but in Chicago most homeless just want money and usually they don't use the money for food. There fore I was taught to kind of ignore them.  As I ignored him, my friend approached him and asked for his name. Then another intern asked him if he would like a sandwich. He was delighted to have her buy a sandwich for him (And I was surprised).
I saw how natural it was for her to ask him what his name was and if he wanted a sandwich. Perhaps I am just not that comfortable around homeless people, but my friend reminded me that they are humans to (Not that I think of them like animals, but I think its hard to have sympathy when in the past you give them money and they use it to buy alcohol etc.). I felt really guilty for my action of ignoring him. I also realized that I really don't know what it means to love like Christ. I guess that is why I am here. Last night was just a small reminder of how much God loves everyone, and how selfish I can be. This summer I really wanna have genuine love for others. Yes, I still believe you can't just give money to the homeless, but it doesn't hurt to ask them for their name and ask if they are hungry. I thank God for reminding me of the things I need to work on in my life. Lets hope I learn to be more comfortable around those in need of Gods love. We all have different backgrounds, but in the end we are all in need of the Fathers love.