zach pippin

Living where I do in my city, I have an endless flood of homeless drunks behind my apartment building leaving behind a sea of King Cobra bottles and Icehouse cans.  Last week, as I was cleaning their disgusting refuse from the area I hope to turn into a garden, I found an old army style duffle bag. It contained a ratty old shirt and a rusty can opener. Following the example and advice of my roommate Marcus, I figured I’d try to do something nice.

So, whilst said manky duffle was in the wash, I set off for the store. With a small budget in hand, I picked out what I thought to be several good essentials to restock the bag. Some warm socks, sweatpants and sweatshirt for the impending winter, along with a fleece blanket. Some healthy, non-perishable food and juice. A mess kit and silverware with which to eat it. I simply put these items into the sack and returned it to where I found it.

The next day I was more that a bit perturbed to see that not only had the contents of my “care package” been dumped out onto the ground, but they had also been covered with a fresh layer of empty alcohol containers. It irked me how they could be so ungrateful. Then I had a somewhat rebuking thought, “How often do we do that to God?”

The people of Israel complained about their food in the wilderness when God provided for them. We have houses that shelter us, keep us dry, warm, and safe. Yet we want bigger ones. We have little devices that let us communicate to people across the country, but we want better ones [guilty].

Point is,  whether we like to admit it or not, there are many times when we act like drunk homeless people. We’re ungrateful for the blessings given to us. I’ll challenge myself with the same thing with which I challenge you, be intentionally grateful. Try to think at least once a day about something for which you are grateful.

Pslam 107:1
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”