bad conditionals

So why is it we feel like giving in one instance is more noble than another? When we justify giving to someone but avoid giving to someone else, are we not judging those asking for help? We think nothing of giving $20 to a kid collecting for the school band, but, the panhandler won't get a buck because we're convinced he'll use it for beer.


We recently found a third location for homeless outreach. There's a closely knit group of homeless people that take care of each other. They all sleep under a bridge at a park near the beach. They care for the park, keeping it clean and are not harrased by the police. They don't get drunk and stay away from drugs. In fact, when someone else shows up drinking heavily or with drugs, they end up running them off, for fear the police will run all of them off.


Joel and I took three pizzas to them last night for dinner. When we walked up to them, a lady was in shock. She said to the others with a laugh, "didn't we just talk about pizza?" Then she turned to me and said, "it started to rain and we didn't want to venture out and were talking about how nice it would be if we could have some pizza delivered." I told her that God received her take-out order. It was a great segway to God hearing our prayers and how he loves us and wants to take care of us. I think I will enjoy getting to know this group, with substance addiction not being as big an issue as with other groups.


Another group we feed hangs out at a centralized park in the middle of town near the hustle and bustle of the city. They're always drinking and drunk or stoned or both. We feed them pizza in the late afternoon. They are rude, crude and filthy and I could see how easy it would be to avoid this group because of their addictions. I mean, how much good will it do to feed people that won't remember it in the morning?  Our time and effort would seem to be better served and more affective if directed to the other group.


As wise as that would be, the problem with this line of thinking is that it's simply wrong. When Jesus told the parable of the sower, he said the seed was cast wide, falling on all different types of soils. The focus is often on how much seed is sown, but, perhaps the better way to read it is that all different types of soil had an equal amount of seed. The sower didn't determine what soil would get the seed, he indiscriminately threw it everywhere!


If we hold back from serving the addicts, then in essence, we are judging them unworthy of God's love. I'm sure that God has a purpose for the addicts and some day, one of them will turn to God for their fix. It might take longer and more work, but, someday that hard rocky soil might become fertile with the right cultivation.


So, are you avoiding the rocky soil? Or, are you cultivating it, hoping new life will spring out of it?