In Mark 14:7 Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.” Although the main point Jesus was making in this chapter was that the woman who was anointing Him with oil was preparing His body for burial and doing an important and timely thing, the fact still remains that what Jesus said about the poor is very true. For those of us who serve with OIM as street outreach volunteers, we are keenly aware of this reality.
Last Friday night we had one team go out and we saw about 70 people during our 2.5 hour route. Most of our street friends were in good spirits and appreciative of our company and supplies. One friend, however, a man on Clarence street named Chris, was not doing well at all. He was wearing shorts and had no shoes despite it being only about 15 degrees C and would be even cooler overnight. When we initially approached him, he had his face buried in his hands. Chris did not respond when we greeted him but we didn’t want to move away from him before ensuring that he was alright.
After a moment, he looked up and we were able to start a conversation. It turns out that all of his things had been stolen. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence for our street friends. Imagine if you will, what you would do if your wallet was stolen and you lost all your ID. Now imagine how much more difficult it would be to replace your ID if you did not have a phone, computer, or home address. This is the reality of so many of our street friends. Although we were not able to solve Chris’ material problem, we were able to be a friend and encouragement to him.
As Jesus said in the middle of the verse quoted above, ‘you can help them any time you want.’ That is what we aim to do at OIM. It is a joy and privilege to serve our Savior in this way.
~Sarah Pearce, Resource Coordinator
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