"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges or to beg in the streets."

Mr. Lake, thank you for your compassion and thoughts.  I thought you'd like to see some of 30 or so Belmont students who came out to help clean up the camp you talk about in your article.  I think you'd be humbled by their effort and proud of them for trying to walk at least a few miles in Jesus' footsteps....

Belmont's own Will and Susan (left pic) pick up trash that has accumulated for over 100 years at this site.  Meanwhile, an army of Belmont students (right pic) get busy with a team approach that swept the area by storm and left it as pristine and beautiful as a city park.


Homeless appreciate, need more assistance

By TODD L. LAKE • September 28, 2008

Todd L. Lake

Tennessee Voices

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges or to beg in the streets." —Anatole France

It looked like there was no one there that night. My wife, three children and I had gone out with another Belmont University family to take the Mobile Loaves and Fishes truck on its appointed rounds.

We came to a dead-end street directly under the traffic crossing the massive bridges of Interstates 24 and 40. As we parked near the railroad tracks, there wasn't a soul to be seen. I assumed our lead driver had made a wrong turn.

Then slowly, from what appeared to be under the train trestle, first one silhouetted figure and then another appeared. In the end, our truck was surrounded by 25 men and women who were understandably dirty, yet genuinely gracious and thankful that we had come. Our 4-year-old handed out a pair of socks to each person as the rest of us gave them some food.

On the disturbingly brief drive back to our middle-class lives, our kids sat in stunned disbelief that in the midst of wealthy Music City, there were people living like Stone Age hunter-gatherers. My tenderhearted 9-year-old son said, "I bet nobody knows they're here. We need to let people know."

Well, it turns out Nashville now does know that these people are here. And our city's response to their plight is to evict them. My family's response, to be sure, has been quite modest. We bought some large tents and a number of sleeping bags and gave them to the folks under the bridge. It was just a Band-aid, but it let them know that someone thought of them as fellow human beings, and it made the next night a bit less uncomfortable.

So what should Nashville do? We need to remember that the largest group of homeless are military veterans. We owe them everything from mental health services to affordable housing, regardless of the cost. Long ago, Jesus was confronted with a similar situation. He came across a man who "for a long time … had not worn clothes or lived in a house." This man cut himself and exhibited other self-destructive and antisocial behaviors.
As Jesus healed him, a strange thing happened: "A large herd of pigs … rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned."

When those in charge of the local government and economy saw the man "sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind," you might think they would have said, "We know of other homeless people living outside and in need of help. We know it will cost us a lot to help them, but it's worth it!"

But the story ends this way: "They asked Jesus to leave them." It was just too costly to do the right thing.
We are free to create gated communities of the heart to keep the homeless off our minds and out of our wallets. But we know that the right thing to do is provide them the treatment programs and housing options they need.

Of course, God won't force us to. And if he does, we can just tell him to leave town with the homeless. And he just might.