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This blog is where I express myself to the world or at least to those who might stop by to read what I post 
. Maybe God will use what I post (I am a Christian and this blog will have a most decidedly Christian bent to it) to good effect in the lives of my readers.
I may turn some of my posts into a book. I may cease blogging here altogether. Who knows. But for now..I am content to post away in this, my own little corner of the world.
Rather than reading through my now lengthy list of posts you may wish to read what I consider to be my very best posts or you can just read the posts that deal with a single subject category that might interest you.
Please know that I am open to any input on any topic I write about. If you have something to say about anything you see written here please....feel free to speak up in the form of leaving a comment or sending me a PM (private message).
And if you are in San Diego and wish to meet the one and only Carlos (that's me)...drop me a private message. I always enjoy meeting one of my readers!
Thanks.
Carlos
PS. If you want to follow my blog such that you will get an email when I write new posts you can subscribe to my blog.
. Maybe God will use what I post (I am a Christian and this blog will have a most decidedly Christian bent to it) to good effect in the lives of my readers. I may turn some of my posts into a book. I may cease blogging here altogether. Who knows. But for now..I am content to post away in this, my own little corner of the world.
Rather than reading through my now lengthy list of posts you may wish to read what I consider to be my very best posts or you can just read the posts that deal with a single subject category that might interest you.
Please know that I am open to any input on any topic I write about. If you have something to say about anything you see written here please....feel free to speak up in the form of leaving a comment or sending me a PM (private message).
And if you are in San Diego and wish to meet the one and only Carlos (that's me
)...drop me a private message. I always enjoy meeting one of my readers!Thanks.
Carlos
PS. If you want to follow my blog such that you will get an email when I write new posts you can subscribe to my blog.
San Diego survival Guide
Posted 10-16-2009 at 09:47 PM by carlos123
I was putzing around on a thread here where someone who is about to become homeless or already is was wondering where to stay without being hassled by the police or others. Not wanting to get into it with others who have faulty stereotypes about people who are facing homelessness and wanting to also be more free to mention the name of God than I might be able to do on a regular thread I figured it would be good to write some sort of San Diego survival Guide that I could point others to in the future.
So here now is my first attempt at a San Diego survival Guide.
----------------------------------------------
How to Survive in San Diego with little more than the Clothes on your Back.
First off...above everything else sit down and calmly and prayerfully evaluate your relationship with God. Either God is there or He is not. Make your choice as to what you are going to believe and then act accordingly.
If you chose to believe that God is there and there is every reason to believe that He is...then you MUST above all else enter into a right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
If you do not enter into or otherwise get right with God if you have fallen by the wayside after previously having entered into such a relationship then you are going to have a much tougher time of things that you would otherwise have.
I mean you will probably still make it by the seat of your pants as they say for in truth God is kind and gracious even to those who do not deserve His help. Which none of us deserve. But rather than hoping that God will continue to be gracious to you and perhaps treat you mercifully and not as your sins deserve why not get right with Him and walk in His forgiveness and grace?
To have God on your side will make all the difference in the world!!
People will let you down. Jobs will come and go. Your friends and even your own family may not understand or care what you are going through. But God will always be there for you and will give you real and tangible help in your time of need.
This is not a theory or religious snippet of ultra spiritual talk to make you feel good. It is the truth.
Either He is there and can and is willing to help you or He is not. Make your choice.
Either you chose to believe that He is there and act accordingly or not. The choice is yours. If I was inclined to believe in luck I would say "good luck with that" if you chose to not depend on God by faith.
That is numero uno. Above all else. Bar none.
You are going to be misunderstood, unjustly condemned, considered a bum, a lazy good for nothing, and worse by those who should know better and should give you the benefit of the doubt. You are going to need God's grace to make it through and make it through victoriously.
Don't look to the Christians to help you. Look to God! Most people who call themselves Christians these days don't honestly know the meaning of the word for if they did there would be a line of Christians lined up to help every person in need among us...but there isn't. We might wish that it would be otherwise but it isn't and we might as well face the fact that overall the Christians are pretty much useless in helping us out.
I have at times called on churches and while well meaning the "help" that I was given was all but useless. Words of comfort and suggestions to do this or that which were completely impractical.
Look to God and not to people to help you. I know it is hard but that is what faith is all about. Don't go around begging or otherwise dishonoring His name. Do what is right by Him and He will honor you and take care of you.
Don't go around acting as though you are no good and worthless. To think that way is a lie! If you have chosen to believe in God and to look to Him and have been forgiven of all your sins you are the a child of the King! Act like one.
You are not important in life because of what you do or because of who you are. We are all sinners and equally as unworthy to stand in His holy presence. What makes us something before God is the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for our sins.
If you are a Christian you have been bought with something more precious than all the kings horses and all the kings men in all the world could have brought together to ransom you to live a life for God. The blood of Jesus. God has purchased your life.
As a Christian your life is His now! Not yours. Whatever He wills to do with you that is what you will embrace as His best for you.
Surrender yourself completely into His hands. You will find rest and peace there no matter how bad your circumstances may get.
The worst thing that can happen to you is that you will die. So what? Heaven is a much better place! Set your eyes on what lies ahead in heaven and not on what is before you during this time of need in your life.
Not that the Lord will allow most of us to die in our trials but what I am saying is that you must come to a place where you believe that whatever, and I mean whatever happens, it is better for you to do the right thing before God and die than to do the wrong thing and live.
So now that we have squared away your relationship with God what next?
Bring your concerns to Him in prayer. Are you hungry? Tell Him so. Are you worried...express your worries to Him. Respectfully for He is God but let Him know what it is that worries you. Are you in need of a bus ride somewhere? Ask Him to provide one.
If He provides for the grass of the field which is here today and gone tomorrow will He not much more provide for you? Of course He will. Our job is to believe and act accordingly.
As you do the above you can also keep in mind the following things.
What is money? That which you do not know have but which most people need to pay rent, buy food, and otherwise engage in life?
It is value. Value given to little green pieces of paper by our society.
If you don't have the little green pieces of paper can you still provide value to those who might otherwise want your green paper?
Of course you can!
Twice I have bartered and got to live in two different place right smack in the middle of teh San Diego area by exchanging valuable talents I have in exchange for rent.
Remember...you are a child of the King! Don't look down on yourself. The righteous are as bold as a lion the Bible says!
I am presently living on top of a mountain in the San Diego area. I have unlimited always on internet access. Food galore. I have my one large bedroom with a giant ceiling fan in the middle of it. My own huge bathroom with two large sinks in it. My landlord pays the few bills I have. He provides me with toilet paper and bath soap. He even gives me rides here and there when and if I need them.
He is a great guy and goes out of his way to make sure I stay happy and content to be where I am.
And I have not paid one single little penny to get this from him. Not one!
For the last month I have had the same $10 in the bank account. That's all I have to my name just now.
And how did I manage to have this happen? Bringing my concerns before the Lord and exchanging something of great value for what I get in return. Web development work.
You may not be a web developer but so what! You have something of value. Everyone does. Think about what value you have and can offer others and if you do not have money to pay for things then offer them what they will get from the green pieces of paper you would normally give them. Offer them the value they seek and you will get what you need.
Put ads on craigslist offering what you have in value in exchange for what you want.
Look for properties that are in foreclosure and offer to pay money, if you have some, to rent a room in a foreclosed property (I've done that too).
Focus on loving other according to their needs and not your own not as a way to manipulate or othewise get your own needs met but because that is what God would have you do.
But oftentimes the very people you love will end up being used by the Lord to help you out.
I have received computer monitor screens, internet satellite dishes, money, rides, food, even crutches from those who I have focused on loving.
And I did not do any of that loving to get anything at all. That's just the way it worked out. The Lord was the one who granted me great favor in the eyes of those who I had contact with!
He will do the same for you.
Life is much bigger than your circumstances. Everyone goes through rough times here and there. Rejoice that you have been given the opportunity to learn to walk by faith in an unseen God. It is not an opportunity given to many. Relish in your blessing.
Consider it all joy the Bible says when you encounter various trials! Why? Because the testing of...what? You faith! Produces endurance and let endurance have it's perfect result that you may be complete and lacking in nothing. Complete in what? Your faith! A faith that has learned to lean on the real God!!
That is absolutely precious! Beyond compare and worth so much more than all the little pieces of green paper in the world that it isn't even worthy of comparison.
I will post more if anyone shows any interest in more but I thought I would share at least that as a start. There is so much more that could be said but it all starts with a right relationship to God.
You want help? Great! Go to the One who can truly help you first. Honor Him and seek Him.
The psalmist in the Bible said that he had been young and now he was old but that he had never seen the righteous forsaken or begging bread.
I can attest to the truth of that in my own life. He lives and will help you but you must trust Him and surrender to His will.
Carlos
So here now is my first attempt at a San Diego survival Guide.
----------------------------------------------
How to Survive in San Diego with little more than the Clothes on your Back.
First off...above everything else sit down and calmly and prayerfully evaluate your relationship with God. Either God is there or He is not. Make your choice as to what you are going to believe and then act accordingly.
If you chose to believe that God is there and there is every reason to believe that He is...then you MUST above all else enter into a right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
If you do not enter into or otherwise get right with God if you have fallen by the wayside after previously having entered into such a relationship then you are going to have a much tougher time of things that you would otherwise have.
I mean you will probably still make it by the seat of your pants as they say for in truth God is kind and gracious even to those who do not deserve His help. Which none of us deserve. But rather than hoping that God will continue to be gracious to you and perhaps treat you mercifully and not as your sins deserve why not get right with Him and walk in His forgiveness and grace?
To have God on your side will make all the difference in the world!!
People will let you down. Jobs will come and go. Your friends and even your own family may not understand or care what you are going through. But God will always be there for you and will give you real and tangible help in your time of need.
This is not a theory or religious snippet of ultra spiritual talk to make you feel good. It is the truth.
Either He is there and can and is willing to help you or He is not. Make your choice.
Either you chose to believe that He is there and act accordingly or not. The choice is yours. If I was inclined to believe in luck I would say "good luck with that" if you chose to not depend on God by faith.
That is numero uno. Above all else. Bar none.
You are going to be misunderstood, unjustly condemned, considered a bum, a lazy good for nothing, and worse by those who should know better and should give you the benefit of the doubt. You are going to need God's grace to make it through and make it through victoriously.
Don't look to the Christians to help you. Look to God! Most people who call themselves Christians these days don't honestly know the meaning of the word for if they did there would be a line of Christians lined up to help every person in need among us...but there isn't. We might wish that it would be otherwise but it isn't and we might as well face the fact that overall the Christians are pretty much useless in helping us out.
I have at times called on churches and while well meaning the "help" that I was given was all but useless. Words of comfort and suggestions to do this or that which were completely impractical.
Look to God and not to people to help you. I know it is hard but that is what faith is all about. Don't go around begging or otherwise dishonoring His name. Do what is right by Him and He will honor you and take care of you.
Don't go around acting as though you are no good and worthless. To think that way is a lie! If you have chosen to believe in God and to look to Him and have been forgiven of all your sins you are the a child of the King! Act like one.
You are not important in life because of what you do or because of who you are. We are all sinners and equally as unworthy to stand in His holy presence. What makes us something before God is the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for our sins.
If you are a Christian you have been bought with something more precious than all the kings horses and all the kings men in all the world could have brought together to ransom you to live a life for God. The blood of Jesus. God has purchased your life.
As a Christian your life is His now! Not yours. Whatever He wills to do with you that is what you will embrace as His best for you.
Surrender yourself completely into His hands. You will find rest and peace there no matter how bad your circumstances may get.
The worst thing that can happen to you is that you will die. So what? Heaven is a much better place! Set your eyes on what lies ahead in heaven and not on what is before you during this time of need in your life.
Not that the Lord will allow most of us to die in our trials but what I am saying is that you must come to a place where you believe that whatever, and I mean whatever happens, it is better for you to do the right thing before God and die than to do the wrong thing and live.
So now that we have squared away your relationship with God what next?
Bring your concerns to Him in prayer. Are you hungry? Tell Him so. Are you worried...express your worries to Him. Respectfully for He is God but let Him know what it is that worries you. Are you in need of a bus ride somewhere? Ask Him to provide one.
If He provides for the grass of the field which is here today and gone tomorrow will He not much more provide for you? Of course He will. Our job is to believe and act accordingly.
As you do the above you can also keep in mind the following things.
What is money? That which you do not know have but which most people need to pay rent, buy food, and otherwise engage in life?
It is value. Value given to little green pieces of paper by our society.
If you don't have the little green pieces of paper can you still provide value to those who might otherwise want your green paper?
Of course you can!
Twice I have bartered and got to live in two different place right smack in the middle of teh San Diego area by exchanging valuable talents I have in exchange for rent.
Remember...you are a child of the King! Don't look down on yourself. The righteous are as bold as a lion the Bible says!
I am presently living on top of a mountain in the San Diego area. I have unlimited always on internet access. Food galore. I have my one large bedroom with a giant ceiling fan in the middle of it. My own huge bathroom with two large sinks in it. My landlord pays the few bills I have. He provides me with toilet paper and bath soap. He even gives me rides here and there when and if I need them.
He is a great guy and goes out of his way to make sure I stay happy and content to be where I am.
And I have not paid one single little penny to get this from him. Not one!
For the last month I have had the same $10 in the bank account. That's all I have to my name just now.
And how did I manage to have this happen? Bringing my concerns before the Lord and exchanging something of great value for what I get in return. Web development work.
You may not be a web developer but so what! You have something of value. Everyone does. Think about what value you have and can offer others and if you do not have money to pay for things then offer them what they will get from the green pieces of paper you would normally give them. Offer them the value they seek and you will get what you need.
Put ads on craigslist offering what you have in value in exchange for what you want.
Look for properties that are in foreclosure and offer to pay money, if you have some, to rent a room in a foreclosed property (I've done that too).
Focus on loving other according to their needs and not your own not as a way to manipulate or othewise get your own needs met but because that is what God would have you do.
But oftentimes the very people you love will end up being used by the Lord to help you out.
I have received computer monitor screens, internet satellite dishes, money, rides, food, even crutches from those who I have focused on loving.
And I did not do any of that loving to get anything at all. That's just the way it worked out. The Lord was the one who granted me great favor in the eyes of those who I had contact with!
He will do the same for you.
Life is much bigger than your circumstances. Everyone goes through rough times here and there. Rejoice that you have been given the opportunity to learn to walk by faith in an unseen God. It is not an opportunity given to many. Relish in your blessing.
Consider it all joy the Bible says when you encounter various trials! Why? Because the testing of...what? You faith! Produces endurance and let endurance have it's perfect result that you may be complete and lacking in nothing. Complete in what? Your faith! A faith that has learned to lean on the real God!!
That is absolutely precious! Beyond compare and worth so much more than all the little pieces of green paper in the world that it isn't even worthy of comparison.
I will post more if anyone shows any interest in more but I thought I would share at least that as a start. There is so much more that could be said but it all starts with a right relationship to God.
You want help? Great! Go to the One who can truly help you first. Honor Him and seek Him.
The psalmist in the Bible said that he had been young and now he was old but that he had never seen the righteous forsaken or begging bread.
I can attest to the truth of that in my own life. He lives and will help you but you must trust Him and surrender to His will.
Carlos
Total Comments 6
Comments
-
There is only one problem with your suggestion, Carlos.
True, you had a Christian friend and God helping you
along the way to a better life.. BUT... isn't it also
true that you have a computer skill to offer which is
why you are now in a normal life-style?
This poster may not have a skill in which he/she
can lean on during this time of anxiety.
Find out from him/her if there are any
marketable skills.. that is step number
1 1/2 ... along with God and mortal friends.
Just my 5 cents.
SummertimePosted 10-16-2009 at 11:28 PM by Summertime
-
Hi summertime!
For sure...some people don't have much of anything in the way of skills that they can trade for what they need but I am of the opinion that most people have something of value they can use to barter for things.
Does one have a car? They can give rides in exchange for what they need.
Can one push a broom and use a vacuum cleaner? They can give cleaning services (I did that once...it was downright embarrasing but I humbled myself and did just that and God fed me through the money I made. I had run out of food. Entirely that very day and didn't know where my next meal was going to come from).
How about taking care of pets while owners are on vacation? Or house sitting?
I know it may seem loony to believe that a homeless person can do such things but so much of this is a mental state of being. A state that relationship with God and faith can help us greatly in.
In Canada I built a successful window cleaning business while literally sleeping in a beat up piece of junk truck that was downright embarrasing to be seen in. I'm talking about cleaning windows of people whose homes would be worth millions down here in San Diego. Big expensive homes with fine chandeliers and such.
Some of my customers would leave me in their home while they went off to the local grocery store or otherwise.
And I was homeless living in a beat up old truck all along. They never knew it. I even had curtains on my window. I would park out of site, put on my best clothes, shave and otherwise look unhomeless and approach them at their doors. Then when they had committed to having me do a cleaning I would show up at the appointed time in my beat up truck and start on the cleaning before they had a chance to back out. Impressing them so much that they continued having me as a window cleaner from then on. I never lost a customer because of my truck. And none ever knew I slept in it.
How about reading to people that are blind? Or giving rides in the car of those who have been arrested for DUI and have had their license taken away?
There are all kinds of ways to give people value in exchange for what we need.
Certainly it helps greatly to have a high level of skill in something but it's not absolutely necessary. God can still help us with what we have if we will give all that we do have and bring to the table to Him in humble surrender.
CarlosPosted 10-17-2009 at 12:45 AM by carlos123
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I think I need to add something to my San Diego Survival Guide lest anyone who is facing really hard circumstances walk away thinking I am cold and uncaring and even unsympathetic to their predicament.
I have been so depressed sometimes in my life when facing difficult circumstances that I have literally and really wanted to die.
Where I saw no reason to continue living.
I have at times lost all hope and sunk into despair.
I have come within a hair breadth of loosing all that I own in this life including family photos and family mementos that were irreplaceable like my grandmother's parasole (which I still carry with me believe it or not).
Once things got so low that I was ready to take my last $5, buy a day bus pass, and go bury some of my little bundle of earthly "treasure" to hopefully come back to it in the future.
Two or three times I literally thought I was going to die. I was so sick. And I had no one to be by my side but the sweet presence of the Lord Jesus Christ to strengthen my heart and give me peace.
His Presence at times like that is out of this world. Something that is very difficult to describe but something that is incredibly fulfilling to experience.
Life has a way of occupying our attention and I often get distracted from Him but within me there is a yearning to know more of His Presence. To once again rest in His love. Warmed by it and embraced by it in a way that fills me to the full inside. To where I can hardly contain the wonder of feeling Him close. Of being shielded by His enveloping love from whatever may be happening to me as I take refuge in the shadow of His wings.
I have at times lost my health due to not eating right. Never irreparably but certainly enough to experience bouts of diarrhea and otherwise feel sick.
I have known anxiety of a kind that one can only relate to if they experience it. Where it chokes the life out of you. Where you feel like you almost can't breath.
On a number of such occasions I have grabbed my hair and starting pulling on it...I was so stressed out (not to really pull it out mind you but in utter frustration).
I have been stressed out to where my eyes have started to quiver from the effect of the stress on my body.
Though I am not a violent person I have at times thrown things, hit my computer or a wall, and have otherwise gotten super angry followed by depression.
I have been angry at times even at God. Some people resort to drink at such times. While I don't resort to that I have my own style of sinning it up when I am in that state of mind and it's not pretty.
I guess I say all this to say that I have probably been through what you are going through. I don't say what I say as some sort of intellectual exercise in what might be good to say to someone who is down and out and getting beat up by life's circumstances.
I say what I say from experience and from real life relationship with God learned in the trenches of my trials.
Relationship with God works and truly is the bottom line most fundamental thing you can do to help yourself when faced with impossible circumstances. If you get that right...everything else will fall into place at least with respect to your having the grace to make it through whatever you are going through.
God does not promise to give us homes and cars and money galore to feed our own selfishness. He mostly promises us Himself and helps us grow in our ability to rest content in our relationship with Him to where life can't bowl us over as easily or as often as it might do otherwise.
And His help is also imminently practical according to our true needs and not just in line with what we think we may need.
The greatest need that we have in life is not for things. Our greatest need is to learn to walk before the living God as His children. Doing what pleases Him in all things. And honoring Him above all else in our lives. True happiness, purpose, and joy unspeakable lies down that route and no other.
The reason I say that being on the verge of being homeless can be such an incredible blessing if we react rightly is because it can serve to help us open our eyes to what is truly important in life. Relationship with Him and learning to walk in a way before Him that allows us to experience peace and joy in a way that cannot be understand with logic or by the nature of the circumstances that we are facing.
Paul and Silus in the New Testament knew that kind of walk with God when they sang hymns after being stoned and almost beaten to death. Jesus knew that joy and peace in the midst of being mocked and ridiculed most of His adult life and ultimately being crucified unjustly for things that He did not deserve to die for.
And I am telling you the truth when I say that there is something far more precious here than just trying to improve our circumstances. I am telling you from personal experience.
I have never known the depths of joy and peace like I have known when in the very midst of some of the most impossible circumstances imaginable. I have only scratched the surface but what a surface it has been.
If I had not been buffeted by the trials I had to endure I would not have believed that one could experience such joy and peace under circumstances that would not otherwise provide any of that.
That joy and peace can only be experienced on the other side of unconditional surrender to God by faith. It is not a one time thing. Paul the apostle said he died to himself daily. We must do likewise.
I don't walk around in a halo all day. Far from it. But I know that God lives and that a life worth living can only be found through right relationship with Him.
That is worth every single moment of every trial I have every endured in my life and will be for you too if you lean on God and come to experience some of what I have in my own relationship with Him.
CarlosPosted 10-17-2009 at 01:51 AM by carlos123
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Carlos, yes, you made it through a time that most people
would have succumbed, rolled over, and just died.
And remember that you did not try some of the very
things that you mention, such as pet sitting, etc.
You did write a couple of pieces for a paper;
you did window cleaning till that sort of
faded out for various reasons too numerous to
go into,
and you did some computer work here and there,
which also did not last long enough to maintain
a living.
This person who seeks advice about surviving in
San Diego may not have any skills whatsoever;
we don't know that.
And when it comes to pet sitting, people who care
about their pets want references from someone who
knows the applicant VERY WELL.
Your faith was unshaken, your Christian friend
was always there for you, and you have a skill
that someone needed.
That is the bottom line, I think.
I hope you can do something tangible for
thi OP on this subject.
SummertimePosted 10-17-2009 at 08:59 AM by Summertime
-
Hi Summertime,
I can understand your thinking that I had some advantage this person may not have but with God in our lives any seeming advantage I may have had pales to insignificance compared to what He brings to the table.
I would tell this person in person what I have said here.
I am a person of very limited resources and still don't even hardly know the area. Bear in mind that I still have no vehicle, have not taken advantage of social services or other more normal means of surviving, and hardly know my way around even if I was able to get out more.
I don't think bus service even runs to where I am living very often if at all.
If said person gets a hold of me and writes me by PM I could perhaps say a bit more about practically surviving according to their own particular circumstances and I would be happy to help in any way I can but relationship with God truly is the starting point.
Compared to how the Lord can help them and lead them to think of ideas and things that they could do as they enter into a real relationship with Him my help is completely insignificant.
God's leading is practical and it is real. Just last night after writing my "guide" I felt the leading of the Lord strongly to go to bed. That I was staying up too late and wearing myself out last night. I obeyed and trusted the Lord to help me finish what I have to finish today. It is that kind of practical, real leading by His Spirit that can make or break us in our circumstances.
If we are trusting and obedient He WILL lead us and chart a course for us through the worst of our circumstances. If we do not have relationship with Him and do not want one then we are on our own and no amount of help otherwise will enable a person to deal with the deepest need that they have for Him.
If I could do something more than point a person to God I would. If they want half my money and are in need of $5 I will give it to them if they meet me to pick it up from me (I'm serious). But what is my $5 compared to God's infinite and true resources? Why should they settle for the pittance that I or anybody else can give them when they can latch on to GOD?
As I said I will do what I can but that's not much when you consider that I have only $10 in the bank just now and can't get around anywhere.
If they don't know God that would be the first thing I would deal with them on as the greatest thing they could do to help themselves.
CarlosPosted 10-17-2009 at 10:58 AM by carlos123
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Just one more thought that came to mind Summertime...
You said...
Do not make the mistake of focusing so much on me that you miss the gist of what I have been saying.Quote:Your faith was unshaken, your Christian friend
was always there for you, and you have a skill
that someone needed.
That is the bottom line, I think.
I hope you can do something tangible for
thi OP on this subject.
It wasn't me or my particular giftings at all Summertime! That is what I am trying to say.
And my friend or friends were not there for me at all times. No where near. I did not blog about the times they weren't for various reasons. Only of those times that they were.
If it was up to me and my particular giftings or my "connections" alone I would have sunk as you correctly surmised.
It is easy to look at me and my gifts and even my friends and say....that was Carlos.
But it wasn't!!
We look on the outward appearance and miss entirely the role of God in a person's life.
Without God I would have ended up a depressed bum on the streets Summertime. Truthfully.
There are countless rich folks who have committed suicide, who have tossed their integrity to the wind, and who are crooks and cheats who would just as soon step on others than help them.
Natural advantage means little when facing circumstances that are beyond our natural ability to cope with.
Don't focus on my supposed advantages. Focus on how the LIVING God helped me and continues to help me and how He can do the same for this person who is in need.
I would advise the person to call Churches but if churches help them in the way they "helped" me they will sink.
I would advise them to go to food banks but if they are as unable to get to them as I still am without a vehicle or money for bus fare they will starve to death.
This person needs God above all. I would rather help them come to know the Lord than give them a fish as the saying goes. I can't even give them a fish! I don't even have the fishing pole or the worm.
But God does.
You may be overestimating my ability or capacity to do anything practical for this person Summertime. I have no car, no money (other than $10 in my bank account...an amount I have had for the last month), no storehouse of food that I can just give away (my food is given to me on a daily basis by my landlord...it is not mine to give away), I don't even know the number to social services in San Diego off the top of my head. And I know of no Christians around me who are willing to sell some of their possessions to help someone in need. I really don't.
CarlosPosted 10-17-2009 at 11:13 AM by carlos123
