Man Under the Bridge

So in our very old house we apparently have a very old heater. Our very old heater decided that on the coldest day of the new year it didn't want to work...AT ALL!!! I think this heater of ours has a mind of it's own. It will come on for hours on end and then go off for a day at a time. Yesterday just so happened to be one of the days it decided to go off and stay off.

Covered up in blankets, huddled around a very small space heater, using our dogs as feet warmers, I sat there and got mad. I got mad because we were cold and having to eat dinner in our bedroom just to be able to keep the small amount of heat in the room. I thought "my goodness, why are we sleeping here...why can't we just go to someone's house where they have heat!!! I am tired of being cold. I am tired of wearing two pairs of socks. I am tired of my nose running because I am now sick."

Today, a friend told me about a homeless man that lives under the Skyway Bridge, here in Monroe. She tells me that this man in the summer will sit out in a chair and wave to people that pass him not bothered by the heat. This man in the winter, however; covers himself up in a sleeping bag and lays flat on the cold concrete trying to get away from the wind.

I can not imagine what it must be like to be homeless and have to sleep on the street...the actual road...where cars and trucks drive. I couldn't imagine if I had to spend the night without heat, without my "feet warmers" outside on cold concrete.

Our heat is not on again tonight. I don't know when we will get it fixed, but I do know that I will not complain about it. I have walls around me to keep the wind off of me and dogs to sit on my feet to warm them up when they get cold. There are some unfortunate people, like the man under the bridge, that have it way worse than I have it.

I am thankful to God that I do have a roof over my head, food in my belly and a family that loves me enough to give me a warm place to go. I pray, for this man and any other fellow human beings that are outside in this cold weather, that God may keep them warm and safe. Please join me in praying for the less fortunate and thanking God for the things in our lives that we have and take for granted .