Hello, and welcome to my blog. My name is Laura Casino and I have felt driven to educate you and others about homelessness in America and to help the houseless (aka homeless) find their places in society and to find love in God.
Let me ask you....when you hear the word homeless...what do you picture? Do you picture the begger at the traffic light asking for change? Do you picture the downtrodden sleeping in a cardboard box under the bridge? Do you even picture the really ragged person that is sitting in the streets with layers upon layers of ripped clothing on that looks like they need a rehab center more than money? What do you picture? If you said yes to all of those you would be right, but you would also be very wrong as well. Why....do you ask would you be wrong? Well, did you know that the homeless in America is growing rapidly daily due to our current economic status? Did you know that the homeless could be that person that sits next to you in church that looks just like you? Did you know that you could be that next homeless person? All it takes is a series of very bad events to land you on the road to homelessness. Imagine this....you are married with two kids (which is our average American family right now) and your spouse losses their job. What happens? You are very tight right? You start getting behind on bills, but you are still ok because you have your job. You get a second job just so you can pay up on your bills. What happens if you lose your full time job and are only left with your part time job? What if you can't get another job to take you? Did you know that companies are less likely to take someone that is unemployeed than someone that already has a job? What if you have your car repossessed? What if your house gets foreclosed on? What if your other family members are struggling just to pay their own bills and can't help you or have room for you....or worse (in most circumstances) you don't have anyone to turn too? What do you do then? You have nowhere to go, nothing you can do...you have a part-time job, but it doesn't pay enough to get food on your table and a roof over your head....what then? Well, guess what...you are homeless....your circumstances have placed you there...not an addiction, not your lack of wanting to work, but your circumstances. Did you know that most of the homeless have their circumstances to blame....that most of them doesn't even have an addiction?
This is what most people don't know about the homeless. This is what most people don't want to know about the homeless. Have you even talked to someone who is in these circumstances? There are more and more people losing their jobs right now. Society has for so long taught us to think about ourselves and to be self-centered and to just ignore the bad in the world and to ignore those that need us because they are there because they made it happen to themselves. There are so many lies that we have been taught about those in need that most of us believe it or have believed it in the past (I was one of those). We as a society need to step across these stereotypes and need to step into what Christ taught us in the bible. To help each other, to not only pray for one another, but to act as well! We are called by God to show his love, his compassion, his giving, his grace to others, but yet we ignore those around us that truly need his love! We ignore the downtrodden, the hungry, the sick, the people that have no where to go or no one to help them. God calls us as Christians to "give it all". We are called to give of ourselves, our finances, our emotions, our energy to help and be a light onto others!
Let me ask you this one last question.......what are you going to do about it?
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