Homeless comes home

My mentally ill brother took in a woman who had been widowed and found herself homeless. He was separated from his former wife at the time. His ex had thrown him out, neither could afford a divorce, so he went his way and she, hers. After ten years had passed, due to a chain of circumstances, my brother and his friend found themselves evicted and homeless in Washington D.C., unemployed and unable to make ends meet any longer. In their need, they turned to family. Would my parents and I come get them and bring them up north to PA to stay with them until they got on their feet financially? My parent's didn't want to take them in because they weren't married, my brother wouldn't leave without her, besides, they knew nothing about this quiet strange woman who had no family that seemed to care for her. My brother was a big enough handful with his problems......What would Jesus do?

The civil law aside, my brother and his ex wife were divorced in their hearts, the marriage covenant had been broken years ago. My brother and his lady friend had a monogamous devotion to one another. In order to rescue my homeless brother, The decision was finally made to bring the lady up too. She also needed rescuing, having thrown her lot in with my brother, his fate was hers as well.

After a discussion about sleeping arrangements, my parents decided to let the two of them sleep downstairs in the family room on fold out sofa bed. It was a major concession for my parents to allow this in their home. My entire upbringing I had been taught that it was forbidden to sleep with a member of the opposite sex unless I was married and here my parents were allowing it to happen under their roof! It was an act of mercy.

My brother and his friend stayed about a month with my folks before the house became too "small" for all four of them and the tensions rose. My brother and his friend got jobs and an apartment. About two years later my brother died, victim of a silent brain tumor growing steadily under the surface of the frontal lobe of his brain. His friend was the last person to see him alive as he lay in hopice care in the nursing home. I know she was a comfort to him.

She is my friend now. I have lost my brother, but I gained a sister. She is very different than I. We are worlds apart in education, lifestyle, even the number of teeth in our mouths. Homelessness is tough on a person. I promised my brother I would look after her when my parents and I brought them up from D.C. She had no family to turn to when things became rough, as my brother did. My mother has died now and I have this precious friend who helps me remember some of the people I loved most in the world. What would Jesus do? I don't know. I think He would go with the spirit of the law and not the letter of it. If we erred, we erred on the side of love mercy and compassion.

When Jesus was born, there was no room at the inn. No one would take in his pregnant mother and earthly father. In are hearts is there room for more mercy, love, compassion, room to stretch and grow, make room for people we would not normally associate with? I am glad I made room for my brother's friend, my friend now.