You've never been homeless before, how can you help me?

This was the question my roommate Jen and I were asked in Tuscon, AZ as we observed a church day labor program. The woman who asked it was possibly in her 50s. When I first asked her what her name was, she said, "Delicious." As I was talking to her, she said, "I know that you mean well, but you've never even been homeless before. How can you pretend to know how to help me? You don't know what it feels like!" She then invited us to stay with her at her camp site. As I was leaving the next day, I could not stay. But I told her that there are opportunities to experience homelessness, similar to the Urban Plunge program at Seattle Pacific University. As soon as Jen and I addressed the want of experiencing and empathizing with her, Delicious told us her real name: Sheryl. She only told us her real name because she respected us for wanting to approach her life from her point of view.

We had to leave the church almost as soon as she told us her real name. But Sheryl hurriedly mentioned to me that she was having a historectomy next week due to cancer in her uterus. After learning of this, I told her that she would be in my prayers. Because she does not have medical insurance, she will only be allowed to stay in the hospital for 2 days. I cannot imagine having to recover from a procedure like this living on the streets! Please remember Sheryl in your prayers.

And, friends, I would ask of you: if someone blows you off at first like Sheryl first did to me, how will you respond? Will you try to approach them with love as Christ did? Or will you merely see them as an angry, lazy homeless person and brush past them. I challenge you to try to see their life from their shoes. The perspective this brings you will be life-altering.