If you've heard the song by Casting Crowns, "Jesus, Friend of Sinners," you would know that there is the chorus that says..."Break our hearts for what breaks yours." Casting Crowns is conveying the message and asking to break our hearts the same way that God's heart is broken. We experienced broken hearts tonight in El Salvador. Our hearts were broken.
Our team purchased food items such as ham, cheese, bread, chips, apples, cookies and juice boxes. Then we prepared the sandwiches and bagged the items. Our whole team piled into Kurt's truck and off we went to deliver the bags to the homeless.
Homeless - people who literally live on the streets. We encountered many people on the streets tonight. Since it was sprinkling out, most of the homeless people were under awnings. The majority of the people we found were men from about 15 years old to older gentlemen, with a few women here and there. One of our team members mentioned that the men were not wearing shoes after the first couple of bags were handed out. After that, we all noticed the appearances. No shirts. No shoes. Pants way too big. Almost all of the people were laying on the ground with no blankets to cover up with, no pillow to lay their heads on. Some were asleep already and had to be shaken awake to receive the food. At one point, we had a line of people waiting to get a bag and we noticed that a couple of boys had open glue containers hanging from their noses. We were told that people get high off the glue to help get their minds off of their starvation.
But, even with all the filth and the stench around us, almost every single one of these people remembered to say, "Gracias!" They were also concerned for others. They would tell us if we left someone out or try to get a bag for their friend. El Salvador is not full of horrible people. They are people who have problems and have no place to turn. "Jesus, friend of sinners. Break our heart for what breaks yours."
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