Blogging can me a scary thing. Especially when your the new blog on the sphere. Alene was one of the first people to comment on a post that wasn’t a family member or in-real-life friend. Alene welcomed me, encouraged me, and has become someone I call friend. She’s impacted my life with her words, heart and action for the least of these. I knew I wanted her to be part of the #doJUSTICE series, and she’s here today. Will you make her feel at home, friends? I just love what she’s written for us. My heart is stirred.

————————————————————————————————————

How You and Your Family Can Help the Homeless

by Alene Snodgrass

Stepping out and serving others is an adventurous journey. A journey where you put one foot in front of the other taking such small steps of faith that often you wonder if you are making a difference.

While it is an exciting road to see where God will lead you to serve, it is also an interesting path navigating the thoughts of others.

Are you sure you should be doing that?

Aren’t you afraid?

That wouldn’t be safe for my children.

I could never do what you do.

How do you know what to do?

Should I involve my children?

Comments and thoughts from others can trip you up as you try to live boldly serving God’s precious people. Realizing that their comments aren’t a judgement against you, but more for helping them process this journey, will benefit you in how to answer.

People instinctively want to serve a broken world. After all, isn’t that how the Creator made us “in his likeness” to serve others. <—-tweet that!

Recently two friends shared that when they drive by a homeless person or someone in need on the side of the road that their middle school children cry out, “Please mom, stop. We need to help them. They need food!”

But in this comfortable, complacent, germ-free, 24-hour news frenzied society that we live in our minds have a hard time understanding why we should take a risk.

Do we stop? Is it safe?

It is our responsibility to stop. Actually, it’s not only our responsibility to serve others, but to teach our children to the same. The stops and ways of serving come in many different way. You can read about some of stops and why they are important over at my series, Stop for the One.

4 Steps You can Take to Bless Another

1. Know your city.

Where do the homeless congregate? What fast-food services are available in that area? Do city busses run there? Take a family field trip to drive around your city and find the needs. Let your children see beyond the walls of your own neighborhood and comfort zone. In my ebook Graffiti: scribbles from different sides of the street, written with my homeless friend Rick, you will read of a story where my children after returning from a mission trip to inner city Nashville said, “Mom, I’m so glad we don’t have places like this in our town.”

2. Plan a day for you and your children to shop for those in need.

Explain the needs of those you saw, and make a list of things that could bless them. Decide how many gift bags you’d like to keep in your car for those special stops. If you live in a city where there are homeless, they are always in need of: toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, body wash, long socks, underwear, water and granola bars. Most of these items can be found at the Dollar Tree for $1.

3. Have fun making gift bags for the homeless.

Buy brown paper bag lunch sacks. Let your children decorate the bags with colorful markers, including a favorite scripture. Then stuff the bags with the items you got from the Dollar Store. Keep these bags in your car where they are easy to get to when you see someone in need.

4. Buy $5 gift-cards to a fast-food restaurant in that area.

If you’d prefer, you can keep a few gift cards in your car to have handy. When you see someone in need or your children are asking you to stop to help someone, keeping your doors locked roll your window down and hand them a gift card. You will be so blessed by the sweet smiles on their face.

Do justice. Love mercy. Walk Humbly.

Oh I pray we can all be brave to serve more. These are just a few ideas to get you going. Talk about serving others with your children and ask them for ideas. We can bless others, be safety conscience, and make a difference when we are educated and prepared.

Do you have ideas to share?

Alene shares her everyday, ordinary life at her blog, Positively Alene. She’s a story teller with a heart for the broken, Through her writing she captures the hearts of her readers to seek, search, and serve. Through speaking and writing Alene challenges the core of each soul to reach out and serve more. Also, find her on Twitter and Facebook.