First off, I knew Ryan when he was a so-cal bro, and even though this is predominantly a nor-cal blog, much love from so-cal. I've been having a conversation via email with Ryan about this very topic, and he asked me to share some things with everyone here. I would like to preface this by saying that I do not see myself as anywhere close to a role-model, but I was asked to share some of my experiences as a source of encouragement/inspiration/whatever-you-want-to-call-it...
This whole concept of loving people is something that I have beeen thinking about a lot lately. I think that everybody needs love on the most basic level, but some people need it more than others. I'd like to share a couple things that I have done in trying to live up to this aspiration.
I was in the park behind city hall in my hometown of Azusa a couple months ago with my wife and the dog and we brought a picnic dinner. While we were there, there were a bunch of homeless guys hanging around and sleeping. I felt really guilty eating my dinner with all of them there, but we didnt have enough food to go around. So we decided to go back the next week with about 5 of our friends and use the BBQ there to cook burgers for anyone who was around. A couple of the same guys were there as well as some families at the playground and about 10 other guys having a soccer game, and we were able to feed all of them. We didn't do anything special, just cooking burgers, but it felt like we were doing something as a part of something bigger than ourselves and that was really cool.
About 2 years ago we were driving somewhere and had packed a meal. On the way we saw a homeless guy walking on the side of the road. As we passed, I just felt something say that we needed to turn around and give him the food. We did. We didnt try to talk to him, or preach to him, or anything other than hooking him up with a meal. I dont know what he thought about it, but I'd like to believe that it made a difference for him that day. Here's another Mother Teresa quote that seems fitting right now:
If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. -Mother Teresa
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Daniel- Welcome to the blog. We gladly embrace SoCal, though we know that NorCal is Mecca so to speak. :)
I love to hear what you are learning. I think that following your heart in situations like that is key. I love how practical it was for you to decide to take time out of your life and cook burgers. That's the good stuff, and I too have a whole lot to learn there. I would love to be in a place in life someday to have regular occurances as such so where this type of thing is simply my lifestyle.
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