 At CityTeam, Robert discovered a new sense of family. |
At this point in the year, you probably haven’t given Thanksgiving a thought yet. But here at CityTeam we have already started planning for the large number of hungry and homeless people who will need our help in the next 90 days. Our challenge is that we desperately need to restock our pantry. There’s no worse time to have a food shortage than in the weeks before our busiest time of year --the Thanksgiving season. Needy men, women and children will be coming to us for help. With your help we can provide not only meals, but also real hope and real change for lost and hopeless neighbor --. people just like Robert*.
Robert never knew his mother. Her death, when he was just 3 years old, robbed him of the most precious of all good gifts – a mother’s love.
When his father remarried, the new wife resented Robert, giving preference to her own two children. While he felt obligated to provide food and shelter for Robert, he emotionally abandoned his firstborn son.
Imagine what it’s like to grow up resented by your family. Devoid of even the smallest taste of affection. Robert was filled with a dreary emptiness. Already homeless at heart, the young man left to attend college as soon as he could.
Addictions often start because a person is trying to escape unbearable pain. For Robert, drinking alcohol dulled his sense of emptiness -- if only for a short time. During college, he married, hoping a wife might help him forget his feelings of aloneness. But because he did not know how to love, the marriage quickly ended in divorce.
After graduating, Robert landed a good job. The ambitious, young man hoped he might finally discover his life’s purpose by working hard. But the nagging hunger in his bankrupt heart could not be forgotten with hard work or alcohol. The scars went much deeper than that. By drinking more than ever, Robert was following a path of self-destruction. I’m unlovable. I’m inadequate. No one wants me. The boss had to let him go.
No family. No job. No wife . . . to complete the picture, he lost his housing as well.
For a full year, Robert wandered. Homeless. Defeated. Alone. His inner pain painted itself onto the canvas of his daily world. Moving from shelter to shelter, without a rallying-point of family love to guide him, this tortured man was completely lost.
He kept hearing about CityTeam from people on the streets. So one night he walked through our doors. Welcomed by our friendly staff, he was given a chance to clean up and sit down to a hot meal. Before bedtime, Robert experienced a stirring in his heart. That night, as he climbed between clean bed sheets he felt an unfamiliar sensation. Was it “safety”? “protection”? “unconditional love”?
Robert longed to know more about the Man they talked about in chapel service and returned night after night. Never before had he known the kind of acceptance and even appreciation the CityTeam staff lavished on him. Why did they treat him with such amazing kindness? Didn’t they know how unworthy he felt inside? Jesus was turning his whole world upside down!
Like a child falling into the arms of his loving parent, Robert discovered a new sense of family at CityTeam. He eagerly joined our Christian Discipleship and Recovery Program where counselors helped him conquer alcohol abuse, deal with the pain of the past and find new freedom in Christ. Everywhere he turned, friends, closer than brothers, were there to encourage his slow, steadyand total transformation. Today, as a graduate of our program, Robert has joined CityTeam.s staff. This talented, well-educated and caring man serves as a program coordinator. Who better to know the needs of hurting, homeless men than one who has “been there” himself?
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