My Daily Life and Thoughts while in San Diego |
List of Best Posts
This blog is where I express myself to the world or at least to those who might stop by to read what I post 
. Maybe God will use what I post (I am a Christian and this blog will have a most decidedly Christian bent to it) to good effect in the lives of my readers.
I may turn some of my posts into a book. I may cease blogging here altogether. Who knows. But for now..I am content to post away in this, my own little corner of the world.
Rather than reading through my now lengthy list of posts you may wish to read what I consider to be my very best posts or you can just read the posts that deal with a single subject category that might interest you.
Please know that I am open to any input on any topic I write about. If you have something to say about anything you see written here please....feel free to speak up in the form of leaving a comment or sending me a PM (private message).
And if you are in San Diego and wish to meet the one and only Carlos (that's me)...drop me a private message. I always enjoy meeting one of my readers!
Thanks.
Carlos
PS. If you want to follow my blog such that you will get an email when I write new posts you can subscribe to my blog.
. Maybe God will use what I post (I am a Christian and this blog will have a most decidedly Christian bent to it) to good effect in the lives of my readers. I may turn some of my posts into a book. I may cease blogging here altogether. Who knows. But for now..I am content to post away in this, my own little corner of the world.
Rather than reading through my now lengthy list of posts you may wish to read what I consider to be my very best posts or you can just read the posts that deal with a single subject category that might interest you.
Please know that I am open to any input on any topic I write about. If you have something to say about anything you see written here please....feel free to speak up in the form of leaving a comment or sending me a PM (private message).
And if you are in San Diego and wish to meet the one and only Carlos (that's me
)...drop me a private message. I always enjoy meeting one of my readers!Thanks.
Carlos
PS. If you want to follow my blog such that you will get an email when I write new posts you can subscribe to my blog.
The Panhandlers with a $700 a month apartment!
Posted 02-18-2010 at 01:35 PM by carlos123
This morning I went to check on Ralph's (a grocery store) to see if they had left some bakery goods out back that I could take home to munch on. While I did not find any I did experience some eye opening contact with some panhandlers that I thought some of you might find interesting and that also gives some insight into how lucrative the panhandler lifestyle can be.
Not that I recommend such a lifestyle to anyone. It is not an occupation that is in line with God's righteousness. Rather than begging and panhandling He would have each of us, as far as we are able, work to meet our needs somehow and even to have some left over to give to others.
It is not being in need that is sinful. It is the extent to which we are willing to compromise the righteousness of God to meet our needs that is the problem. God is not glorified by us going around begging or panhandling when we are able bodied and able to contribute to meeting our own needs through some useful activity like work.
Anyway, on the way to Ralph's I saw this younger lady holding up a sign at the corner of a shopping center entrance way. I walked around her to see what the sign said and sure enough she was panhandling. The sign said something to the effect of "Family in Need...Please Help".
She did not look like a panhandler at all and was dressed nicely and even conservatively. Almost looked like a stay at home mom who was in need and asking on behalf of her children.
As I continued to the back of Ralph's I began to wonder if there was some way that I could help her. That maybe I could share whatever bounty of baked goods I found behind Ralph's with her.
I really did not relish the thought of giving away my secret to getting free baked goods from behind Ralph's once in a while but figured that the Lord would want me to share my occasional bounty with a woman who might truly be in need.
But, there was nothing behind Ralph's so I then proceeded to plan B which was to go to Trader Joe's, buy a banana for .19 cents, and eat their food tasting tid bit for my morning's breakfast.
As I did that I thought to myself that it might be worthwhile for me to buy an extra banana to perhaps share with this lady who might truly be in need (though I was going to ask her some questions first).
I had less than a dollar in my wallet but figured that the Lord would provide for me otherwise and that it wasn't worthwhile for me to hang on to my precious pennies to keep from buying an extra banana for this lady if she really needed some food.
So I bought an extra banana to potentially give it to her and walked back to where she had been standing.
She had since moved on and was nowhere in sight. As I proceeded to walk back home I perceived what seemed like the Lord telling me to head back to behind Ralph's. At first I argued with what seemed like the voice of God to my spirit that I had already checked and that there was no bread there.
But...I went back and sure enough there was no bread. I did however observe some homeless looking folks milling about and decided to ask them if they knew of another store that might occasionally leave food out behind their store.
On approaching closer I realized that the lady I had seen panhandling was there.
We all talked some and started conversing about various things related to finding food and such.
Eventually it came out that this lady and another man who was sitting there were panhandling and making enough from their begging to pay for a $700 a month apartment! That last year their average month was $2200 a month! In panhandling!
Now it is certainly possible that they were exaggerating but I have heard this type of thing before from other panhandlers so the idea that panhandlers make decent money is not that far fetched.
They even told me about another panhandler who was even given a car that he then tried to sell to them.
And here I had been willing to share my meager pennies in case the lady was truly in need of some food!
Absolutely unbelievable!
It was kind of funny in the sense that they also told me that the economy was affecting their panhandling take. Their "earnings" were down somewhat.
And the man even said that he was trying to get a regular job as he was tired of panhandling. That it was getting too hard to listen to all the verbal abuse he gets when he stands on a street corner.
But abuse or not I found it eye opening to see a panhandling couple making enough from their activity to afford a $700 a month apartment and then some.
As to why the Lord might have led me to go back and ultimately meet these folks? Only He knows but I can think of a couple of reasons. One is that it gave me something to blog about. Always a good thing. Secondly and probably more likely, it gave me further insight into panhandlers that might enable me to love them into righteousness in the future through a greater insight into what they do.
Carlos
Not that I recommend such a lifestyle to anyone. It is not an occupation that is in line with God's righteousness. Rather than begging and panhandling He would have each of us, as far as we are able, work to meet our needs somehow and even to have some left over to give to others.
It is not being in need that is sinful. It is the extent to which we are willing to compromise the righteousness of God to meet our needs that is the problem. God is not glorified by us going around begging or panhandling when we are able bodied and able to contribute to meeting our own needs through some useful activity like work.
Anyway, on the way to Ralph's I saw this younger lady holding up a sign at the corner of a shopping center entrance way. I walked around her to see what the sign said and sure enough she was panhandling. The sign said something to the effect of "Family in Need...Please Help".
She did not look like a panhandler at all and was dressed nicely and even conservatively. Almost looked like a stay at home mom who was in need and asking on behalf of her children.
As I continued to the back of Ralph's I began to wonder if there was some way that I could help her. That maybe I could share whatever bounty of baked goods I found behind Ralph's with her.
I really did not relish the thought of giving away my secret to getting free baked goods from behind Ralph's once in a while but figured that the Lord would want me to share my occasional bounty with a woman who might truly be in need.
But, there was nothing behind Ralph's so I then proceeded to plan B which was to go to Trader Joe's, buy a banana for .19 cents, and eat their food tasting tid bit for my morning's breakfast.
As I did that I thought to myself that it might be worthwhile for me to buy an extra banana to perhaps share with this lady who might truly be in need (though I was going to ask her some questions first).
I had less than a dollar in my wallet but figured that the Lord would provide for me otherwise and that it wasn't worthwhile for me to hang on to my precious pennies to keep from buying an extra banana for this lady if she really needed some food.
So I bought an extra banana to potentially give it to her and walked back to where she had been standing.
She had since moved on and was nowhere in sight. As I proceeded to walk back home I perceived what seemed like the Lord telling me to head back to behind Ralph's. At first I argued with what seemed like the voice of God to my spirit that I had already checked and that there was no bread there.
But...I went back and sure enough there was no bread. I did however observe some homeless looking folks milling about and decided to ask them if they knew of another store that might occasionally leave food out behind their store.
On approaching closer I realized that the lady I had seen panhandling was there.
We all talked some and started conversing about various things related to finding food and such.
Eventually it came out that this lady and another man who was sitting there were panhandling and making enough from their begging to pay for a $700 a month apartment! That last year their average month was $2200 a month! In panhandling!
Now it is certainly possible that they were exaggerating but I have heard this type of thing before from other panhandlers so the idea that panhandlers make decent money is not that far fetched.
They even told me about another panhandler who was even given a car that he then tried to sell to them.
And here I had been willing to share my meager pennies in case the lady was truly in need of some food!
Absolutely unbelievable!
It was kind of funny in the sense that they also told me that the economy was affecting their panhandling take. Their "earnings" were down somewhat.
And the man even said that he was trying to get a regular job as he was tired of panhandling. That it was getting too hard to listen to all the verbal abuse he gets when he stands on a street corner.
But abuse or not I found it eye opening to see a panhandling couple making enough from their activity to afford a $700 a month apartment and then some.
As to why the Lord might have led me to go back and ultimately meet these folks? Only He knows but I can think of a couple of reasons. One is that it gave me something to blog about. Always a good thing. Secondly and probably more likely, it gave me further insight into panhandlers that might enable me to love them into righteousness in the future through a greater insight into what they do.
Carlos
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