Setting Prisoners Free

Focus on the good, not the bad! Look for the good in others, not just the wrongs they've done. As Bryan Stevenson says, "Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done". I have tried to live this way, but admittedly, have not always succeeded. I have tried to not dwell on the worst, to not let them ruminate in my head. I have tried to forgive, to see unchartered potential and help people redeem those worst moments into something good, something redemptive, something that can bring healing and hope into this world. I've spent over 2 decades working with those experiencing homelessness, where most people I encounter are labelled or judged negatively. They are called and deemed crackheads, bums, criminals, thugs, and the like. Sometimes that's all they hear. Sometimes that's all we want to see. What saddens me is, that when we focus on the negative, it tells people they are worthless and they struggle to see their own worthiness. When we focus on neg...

The sentiment angers me that homelessness in New Zealand isn't real, or that the people experiencing homelessness shouldn't receive help because there are more services in Aotearoa than in places like Chicago (where I have lived and worked for over 20 years). Homelessness is real wherever someone lives. As I've met many of Waitakere's rough sleepers, as I've heard their stories, as I've seen their deteriorating health, I know the struggle is real. The pain is real. The trauma is real. I see the harm being done! I have also seen and helped people move off the street and go into a home. I've seen the elation of having a bed, warmth, and a toilet. I've seen their health improve. I see the reduction of harm. Yesterday, I spoke to an elderly gentleman we helped a couple of months ago. He was sleeping in his van and often struggled to breathe. He caught pneumonia and was hospitalized. He is now in his own place and that roof over his head has worked wonders. E...

I listened to her story. It was so heartbreaking. It grieved me. Immensely!  How could someone survive so much trauma, so much pain, and so much rejection?  Crystal was homeless when we first met. As a beautiful trans woman, her journey was and continues to be, riddled with so much agony and suffering. Tearfully, she shares snippets of her story, from that youngster cast out of her home and left to fend for herself, to the abuse and suicide attempts and arrests that have followed her relentlessly, to the black eyes she tries her best to disguise today, I marvel at her resiliency. Her scars reveal a life that should only show up in nightmares. My grief is coupled with anger as Crystal reveals that much (not all) of her displacement, rejection, and abuse has been done by the hands of those who claim to follow and be disciples of Jesus. Because of their thuggery, she believes the Almighty God is also a displacing, rejecting, and abusive thug that wants no part of her.  Chris...