What's so hard to love?

This evening as I was walking from my brother's apartment to meet my friend, I walked by a homeless man, shirt half off, sitting on top of a grated area, trying to get comfortable.  I wanted to do something for him, but then shamefully walked by him as if he was not there.  It was somewhat of a darker street and less populated, and no food options were around, so I walked right by him.  He didn't even ask for anything.  He did not look good.

As I walked by him, I started to get really mad at myself.  Just stop. Turn around. Go talk to him.  But... I kept going.  Yes, there was a side of me that was wanting to protect myself, but there was also a side of me that was thinking about the inconvenience of it all.  God I am sorry!  So then as I continued to walk, I promised God that the next homeless person I see, I'll get him/her something.  Gosh... forgive me for bargaining with you...

So then I met up with my friend Tomo for a date to Pinkberry.  We walked by a man holding a cup of change.  I stopped Tomo and told her about my promise to God, and that we needed to go and talk to the man.  (in college, Tomo and I would often talk and eat with homeless guys so it actually felt pretty normal).  So we went, offered to buy some food for him, and he said very honestly... "that's nice of you.  How about a juice."  And we prod and ask, "are you sure you don't want a sandwich or pizza or something?"  And he's like, "no... just juice... i just had a slice... but thank you."  And off we went to get him some juice.  The man was so gentle and thankful.  We fist bumped, or as Tomo taught me today, we "dapped" (she teaches high school kids who taught her that), and wished each other well.  Just a normal human being, like me, who's currently got some challenging circumstances.  He is made in the image of God, just like I am. That man was not that hard to love once we started talking.  We need to put down our stigmas and walls, treat humans (no matter how they look, smell, act) like God's precious children, and learn to care for one another and love each other.  Learning to love what seems difficult to love... but if God could love someone like me... then what could possibly be my excuse.