Pain is seen in their eyes Anger is seen upon their foreheads Confusion is seen in their wanderings Distance is seen upon their hearts Crying for patience Acceptance beckons to be found Crying for family Love beckons to be seen Lost, they wander in the shadows Lost, they search for [...]

Two groups of preteens gaze up at their teachers. They’d all been asked exactly the same question, but each group responded with answers that were exactly opposite. Both sets of kids live in Chicago, yet they are from contrasting parts of our divided city and attend extremely different schools.     [...]

There are times when people step into our lives and present ongoing dilemmas. These people are never easy. These people become our constant headaches, heartaches and bellyaches. These people are there, leaving us scratching our heads at the crossroads, asking us to put our faith into action. At this intersection, we are [...]

Back in May, also Mental Health Awareness Month, I began writing, thinking and praying about mental illness in the homeless community. It saddens me to know that people struggling with mental illness are marginalized. It also saddens me to know that people struggling with

My 7 year old daughter is a friend with the self-proclaimed “craziest man in Uptown!” On one particular warm summer evening, Muriwai and I bumped into him on the street.

Honestly, I thought my lil’ African buddy had been tazed. Kwame was on the ground convulsing, drooling, with his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Two big police officers were standing over him, armed to the hilt, making sure

My eventual plan is to elaborate in far greater detail on my friend’s story, because Shane is a person who has been ostracized, isolated, criminalized and “kicked to the curb”, simply due to him struggling with a very flamboyant and debilitating mental illness. But that will be another post…. My [...]

This was written as a continuation of “Stinky Shorts In Frigid Temperatures“; this is another case study or look at debilitating mental illnesses in the homeless community. This is a call to love and “be there” for the “least of these”; men, women and children scattered throughout our communities (whether [...]

Rasheed comes storming into my office, slams the door, plonks himself down in the chair in front of me and starts furiously ranting…. “Jeremy; You better do something!” “I’m as mad as hell; if you don’t do something, I’m gonna snap, yeah man, I’m gonna hurt that boy, you better [...]

It’s such a difficult life for some! Their reality is extremely different from the norm, but it’s very real to them! … and that’s what I have to remember ….. Always! No matter how crazy they may seem, no matter how ludicrous, no matter how “out of this world”, their [...]