Remember the "Least of These"

This page is dedicated to remembering and honoring a few people that society has rejected. Some have passed away. Some are still living....
  
I want to remember these women, men and children who Jesus described as the "Least of These". In Matthew 25 Jesus implored His followers to be Sheep (not goats) and *DO* 6 things for the "Least of These"....

1. clothe the naked 
2. quench the thirst of the thirsty 
3. feed the hungry
4. take strangers (homeless) into our homes and provide them shelter
5. take care, visit and assist the hospitalized, sick and dying
6. perhaps this final one is the most difficult to comprehend, Jesus tells us to even visit those who are in jail and prison. For those who know about our modern day prison industrial complex, would understand and realize that incarceration does not end while locked up. It continues far beyond that....
   

These people have been ignored and forgotten in both their lives and deaths, I want to remember them; we ran a shelter for homeless men from 2001, and when we had to closed it in 2004, I could see so much bitter pain and rejection in the tears of these men. This grief triggered within me a desire to write and that is why I originally wrote Dejected, BUT Not Forgotten!

Below are a few of the wonderful homeless people I have had the privilege of meeting: 

N I C K was a man that used to stay in CCO between 2001 - 2004. Just a month or so after our shelter closed, Nick passed away under a tree in a local park. He couldn't read or write, he was a victim of injustice and his death inspired me to write; this is his story!

I wrote a piece called deATh's door, where I remembered the deaths of many of my homeless friends. Their lives are fragile, and in many cases, they consider themselves blessed to reach the age of 60. It's a hard life on the streets. Danny (to the left) died in his thirties. I mentioned him in deATh's door, but I also wrote a reflection on his life as a victim of victims, I was privileged to be able to read it at his small memorial service, called Danny; From Prison Whites to Heavenly Glory
 

 The Trooper is about a man who has experienced so much hardship and sickness, yet he continues to have an amazingly positive disposition; he is a challenge to us all.

My buddy Papa G challenges me in a very different way. I love this guy, he constantly teaches me about loving the least of these, knowing I won't get anything in return. This is what love is all about and this is his story: Papa G; the Dilemma and the Continuing Saga.....

Papa G passed away earlier this year (2012)

This is a story about a man who had a terrible accident that left him a local hospital. Homeless people rallied around him and showered him with so much love; Collapsing Walls and a Snapped Femur

Frost Bitten, Very Shy!