Poverty

Cryin' baby
Cold, damp floor
Empty fridge
Broke down car
Piled up bills
Howlin' heater
Late for work
Prayin' long
Demanding boss
Same old soup
Confusing homework
Outgrown school clothes
Losing sleep
Stale bread
Hearing gunshots
Son's got attitude
Family strung out
Friends need help
Fast food treat
Man in jail
Kids need dad
Broken sidewalk
Shattered windows
Cops don't come
Judged by zip code
Church so cold
No green grass
Broken glass
Wild dogs
Doctor helps
Can't fill script
Stressed out
Loud, loud world
Bus transfer
Invisible life
Streets seem near
Options sad
Baby cryin'.

Poverty pictured. . .

Poverty. . .

I’ve lived in the inner city for almost 14 years.  As a result, poverty is no longer an abstraction for me. 

Poverty feels like a crushing weight. 

Poverty inspires fear. 

Poverty gets personal real fast. 

Poverty sucks the life out of a person one day, one hour, one block at a time. 

Poverty is contagious. 

Like a cancer, poverty can grow wildly, quickly. 

Poverty leads to death, death of hope and spirit. 

Poverty is anti-family. 

Poverty humiliates. 

Poverty breeds hopelessness.

Poverty is unjust—you’ll find no fairness underneath the surface of poverty. 

Poverty inflicts cruelty. 

Poverty is inhumane. 

Poverty wrecks lives here and now. 

Poverty leads the way to generations of suffering and defeat. 

My faith tells me. . .

. . . my experience tells me,

. . . my friendships tell me,

. . . my abundance tells me,

. . . my heart tells me that poverty must not go unchallenged. 

If I am a human being made in God’s image, I must respond to the terrible reality of poverty and the suffering it inflicts. 

Working among the poor is a war. 

Not everyone can be here. 

We are. 

We need your help in the battle that rages around us every day. 

It’s real simple. 

Will you help us today?