JoAnne

JOANNE
1 Corinthians 4: 10-13
“We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty. We are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it: when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.”

Today, I met a woman named JoAnne. To most, she is an invisible woman, but too me, she is a person who represents something I would like to be. You see, JoAnne is homeless. She sleeps in the fire exit of a Tesco, she sells “The Big Issue” at Euston square, and she occasionally visits classrooms to share her experience. Though she looks tired, and cold, and though most days I might walk past her without a second glance, today JoAnne was an inspiration in a dim world, and I long to have some of the faith she lives on every day. JoAnne said nothing to me or my class of God, or having any faith in him, but she served as an example of unspoken strength. Though her situation may only relate to mine in a spiritual sense, I admire her. And so, I will tell you about JoAnne, and what a daughter of God she is.
A typical day for JoAnne goes a little like this. She gets up before 7am. If she doesn’t, the managers of Tesco will come make her move out of the emergency exit. She packs up what little she has – a sleeping bag, and a couple quilts – and is maybe given a bagel by the man who works in the pub across the way. She goes to the nearest tube stop and waits until she can hop behind someone swiping their oyster card and get through the gates. She takes the tube to Euston square, where she spends most of her day. She sells “The Big Issue” (the only legitimate way of making money if you are homeless) and hopes that people will donate food or money. She can’t have a sign, or cup, or bowl – begging is illegal in London. She might make between 8 and 15 pounds, depending on the day.
She has to use all of this money on food, so it’s impossible to save any money. Eating out in London is expensive, but it’s JoAnne’s only means of eating. She has no way to cook or keep any food, no kitchen, nothing. So if she’s lucky, she might get a meal or two for the day. From here, she typically heads back to the Tesco, again, having to use someone else to get onto the tube. She puts out cardboard to stay warm, gets in her sleeping bag, and covers herself with her blankets. She can’t sleep until 2 or 3 am, because the people in the Pub across the way are noisy and obnoxious. At 7am, her day begins again.
JoAnne spends most of these days unnoticed. “Regular” people pass her by without a second glance. They offer her little money or food, and when they do, they forget she’s a person. It’s easy as people with oodles to think, “well you don’t like what I give you, fine then, I won’t give you anything”. But JoAnne is still human. She doesn’t like bananas in the same way you or I don’t like hotdogs, or tomatoes, or pea’s. Why is it that because she lacks possessions, she loses her right to humanity?
It’s not a safe world JoAnne lives in. She’s been raped, beaten, and attacked before. She lives on the streets with no protection, and she finds it practically impossible to trust another person. But what kind of faith must she have to keep going, to make it through every day in such dismal circumstances. If you ask her, she will tell you her hope is her children. She has three, whom have all been taken from her life. She recently became able to see the eldest, and must wait until the other two are eighteen to see them. I find JoAnne to possess a faith that I lack, and I long for the spiritual homelessness that creates such unfathomed faith.
I guess what really struck me about JoAnne is that she didn’t seem to see herself as lacking in anything. She might be without food, she might be without appreciation, she might go unnoticed by the world, but she still had a purpose, something worth getting up every day, something making living worthwhile. And I wish that I could be homeless in that sense. That I could see beyond my material desires, and just live on the faith that Christ gives me. In that bit of 1 Corinthians I have above, Paul is talking about how the apostles are the scum of the earth, the homeless. Yet despite the trials, they bless, and they have grace, and they live knowing that this world isn’t it. I long to be that kind of homeless in this world, and long to live for the home Christ gives me in him. I long to become the “scum of the earth”, and to live for something different then the plastic people of the world, to have faith in what’s real, and to be able to show undying faith to others spiritually as JoAnne did to me literally.

1 Corinthians 4: 3-5
“I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of people’s hearts. At the time each will receive their praise from God.”