Sadly, this is nothing new. It's a problem that has showed it's ugliness for ages. Homeless people with no where to turn when it comes time to weather the winter storm. Shelters get filled up. People have frozen to death and someone today is facing death from exposure to the elements. Why? When roads are bad and stores are closed and shelters are full, where is there any help? What are their chances? Next to none. Some sit over subway exhausts, some near the road or bus stops for the chance of that brief moment of heat from the carbon monoxide exhaust from mufflers. Some seek shelter under bridges, where the wind actually blows the coldest. Some just lay on a bench, or against a closed business door, or some just right where they are; and they pray for that eternal sleep. When suffering hypothermia and freezing to death, as their nerves die, they begin feeling the stinging and burning sensation of frost bite, eventually yielding to the feeling of warmth, they lose their hearing and their sight, replaced with a hallucination of a warmer, brighter day, until, their Savior takes their spirit home. And when the ice melts, someone comes, to pick up their body.
But why is it this way? Why can no one help to save just one life? Why wait until death comes to show any regard for the homeless? Because we live in a scared and selfish world. Because we take our blessings for granted. We never think that could be us. But IT IS US! They were not always in this position. And unless you take time to actually speak to them, you have no idea who they are, how they got there or what their story is. But you do know that they were someone's baby at one time, there was a time when they were loved and cared for by someone. They have laughed, cried, maybe even helped others, saved other lives....and should this be their reward? They are someone's child, even as an adult, they are the Almighty God's child, He breathed Life into them and caused their heart to beat! And the majority of those who are homeless, know their Savior and pray to Him daily, if not by the hour...."God please help. God put it in that persons heart to help" each time someone passes by. Did you hear it? Did you hear the Spirit speaking to you? Did you feel that urge? Did you answer that prayer? Or did you ignore it all, and pass on by without a care or a prayer for a child of God? Or did you judge them and reason why they are in that position without knowing even a morsel of truth? More than likely you won't even witness the homeless when weather is bad because we stay at home to weather the storm and not risk life and limb to go out on dangerous roads. And rightly and wisely so. But we don't really see the realties of those less fortunate, those who have no where to weather the storm safely.
So what can we do for those stranded in the elements when we are hunkered down safely at home and can't get out? Well, while we are praying to not lose power ourselves, don't forget to thank God for your blessings and pray for those with nothing. Pray for their safety, that God would make a way and lead them to shelter and warmth. Please, pray for them. For the most part, that is all that they ask.