A good friend of mine did his Ph.D on the question of the Church's relationship to homelessness, and now runs a homeless ministry down in Atlanta. In his latest blog post, he addresses the question he is asked most: Should I give money to a homeless person? His response is thoughtful, engaging and addresses primarily how we need to think about these questions in the first place. Go check out his post here, and let me know your thoughts.

God's amazing in the way He daily teaches me. The other day I drove to the grocery store. As I pulled into the parking lot I noticed a man on the corner holding a sign asking for money. This particular corner is continually occupied by people asking for money and I’ve found myself no longer noticing those on it.

This day I was on my cell phone (don’t tell Oprah – I am trying hard to make my car a “no phone” zone but I'm not quite there yet.) When I drove by this gentleman, I made eye contact with him. My normal response is to quickly look away. However, on this day I felt a nudge to lock eyes, smile and nod my head acknowledging him. The thought crossed my mind If he’s still there when you leave…give him money. 

I forgot about him as I shopped but when I got in my car to head home, he was still on the corner with his sign. Normally the traffic makes it awkward to stop but on this day, no one else was around.

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Meet Barbados, friend of a few months, from whom I’ve gained much respect and perspective. He comes from the Islands, hence the name, and holds a resume more notable, maybe, than anyone I’ve ever met.

At some point during our first evening together, Barbados told me about one of his early endeavors, a start-up electric company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He certainly wasn’t bragging, and was actually quite humble, but it was obvious from what he shared that Barbados had done very well for himself.

He went on to share that this company served the wirings of a feisty college student named Barack. Barbados had much political passion and insight, so ended-up taking the “Harvard kid” under his wings. “His early days dating Michelle were of my favorite conversation topics, or playing ball with him at the local gym. What started as simply helping a guy with home repairs, turned into befriending a man who is now the President."

When I was in New York City earlier this year, I took some pictures of a person lying on a couch on a sidewalk in the East Village. I wasn’t sure if he was a hipster or a homeless person. This question has come up numerous times in my hipster field research over the last couple years, and it’s definitely becoming harder to tell the difference. Apparently the homeless look is hotter than ever. Actually, I first noticed the trend a few years ago in L.A. and wrote a post on my blog entitled “Derelict Chic” back in 2007.

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