“…The Lord knows those who are His..."
(2 Timothy 2:19 NASB).
“...As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his
sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered …”
(Ezekiel 34:12 KJV).
“…The
Lord their God will rescue his people, just as a shepherd
rescues his
sheep…” (Zechariah 9:16 KJV).
“…and
the sheep recognize his voice and come to him ...they
know his voice…”
(John 10:1-10 NASB).
“….[God, the Holy Spirit, who]... hath called [them]… out of darkness into
his marvellous light…” (1 Peter 2:9 KJV).
*
UnRee told Reginald
about Joseph. Joseph’s wife and unborn child had died in a car accident. He was
overwhelmed with grief. They were newlyweds and had moved into his wife’s
rental home. Joseph’s name was not on the lease and the landlord gave him several eviction notices.
Joseph stayed in the
home, ignoring the notices. One day he returned to the house, after a two-day business trip, and the locks were
changed. All his belongings had been threw out, including his
identification.
Not only had he lost
his wife and child, but he had recently lost his job and now his home too.
Joseph was frightened, lost, and utterly heartbroken.
Joseph wandered the
streets, slept on park benches, and hung out with the homeless. One day he was
ranting and raging to himself and the police picked him up for disturbing the peace.
Joseph was grieving and
needing mental health counseling. He was placed in a men's shelter, but couldn’t get
psychiatric help because he had no identification.
In fact, Joseph could not
get help from any government entity nor could he even enter a government
building. He needed to be able to enter a government building in order to get help.
Joseph was in a serious
jam. He never knew how valuable his identification was until he no longer had
one. He never paid attention to how often he was asked to show his ID.
Now he couldn’t get
medical health. He couldn’t get a job. He couldn’t get another place to live. He
couldn’t get government assistant. He couldn’t access social services. He
couldn’t vote. He couldn’t get the few dollars out of his savings account. He
was stuck.
Joseph was also homeless and
without an ID. For the time being, he had no recourse, but to remain homeless. He felt shut out of
everything all because he had no identification. Eventually, he had to leave the homeless
shelter too, because he had no ID.
There were fees for
everything, so he couldn’t get his birth certificate. With all the new federal
regulations it was HARD to get an ID now.
He never knew how much
paperwork was required and he had NOTHING. He and his wife had the one car and it
was totaled. He didn’t have the money or transportation to run to all these
places to get paperwork, - which you
couldn’t without identification anyway- but he needed in order to GET
identification. It made no sense and it made it practically impossible to
replace a lost or stolen ID.
Joseph had no one. He
and his wife were new to the area and neither had close family. Joseph could
not prove who he was and as time passed, he felt invisible or like a non-person.
Joseph tried
everything, but he learned quickly that he needed ID in order to get ID. WHAT? He need PROOF that he was who he
said he was. That PROOF had to be in the form of permanent residency, an
utility bill, a social security card, a birth certificate, or a letter from one
of the social service agencies.
When and “IF” he
finally received the PROOF he needed, the ID would cost him $40 or $50 dollars.
The process was exhausting. He had visited one state office after another
and got NOTHING.
Every time they turned
him away Joseph felt more and more lost. Joseph finally got into another
shelter and they attempted to get him another ID, but finally gave him. They
kept coming to dead ends just like he had. The problem with giving up was that
Joseph was without, access to, the resources he needed to go BACK to his life.
Out of curiosity Joseph
asked every homeless person he encountered did they have an ID and he was
surprised when MOST of them said a resounding “NO!”
He, along with the
majority of the homeless, had no ID, which meant they had NO access to government
assistant, social services, medical care, housing, most shelters, food stamps,
food pantries, or any other resources that could give them a helping hand.
Joseph didn’t want to
be homeless, but he couldn’t PROVE who he was and thus he had no way to get his life back without the proper
ID. It was HARD. For months and months Joseph got the run around. It was a
vicious circle. He might as well be a gerbil on a spinning wheel going NO
WHERE!
He thought about it over and
over again: “...I need an ID to get an
ID. I need an ID to get an ID...”
Joseph had nothing and
time was passing. He was at the mercy of the streets, other homeless people,
passer-bys, non-profits, and shelters who took in non-ID or non-documented
people.
Joseph had basic records
of who he was in the normal government agencies, but he had no access to them
WITHOUT identification. He had a birth certificate. He had a social security
number. He had a marriage license. He
had a driver’s license. He had a membership card from SAM’s. He’d had an old
High School ID too. However, he didn’t have access to any of those things and
couldn’t GET access either.
He was an American,
down on his luck, who couldn’t get help or use any of the available services to
get back on his feet. It was the worst nightmare ever!
Joseph respected the
importance of having an ID, and the process. However, there was NOTHING in
place to help people like himself and they just got lost in the shuffle.
He understood the need
for stringent requirements and making it tougher for criminals to get an ID.
But what about people like HIM. He simple
lost his identification and all the documents he needed to PROVE he was who he
said he was.
Joseph needed three
things, his social security card, his birth certificate, and proof of permanent
residency and he had NONE of them. Without access to these documents, getting
an ID was like climbing Mount Rushmore in flip flops.
Joseph gave up so many
times. Getting an ID was a major barrier and the effort seemed hopeless. He was
born in this country and had been here all his life and without certain
documents, he couldn’t prove he was who he said he was.
Getting an ID was
simple really, but obtaining a replacement was a whole other world. Joseph's journey to getting an new ID was a long one. On top of trying to prove he was
who he said he was, he lost his wife, his unborn child, and his job.
After the death of his
family and losing his home through eviction, he couldn’t even get his
belongings, which included his identification. Unfortunately, Joseph didn’t pay
attention to how far the eviction proceedings had gone and the landlord had
every right to remove his belongings.
The landlord didn’t
literally remove them himself, but they had a service come and remove all of his property.
Many of those things
were valuable to Joseph, but to a landlord, trying to do their job, it is just
trash.
The landlord had given
Joseph plenty of time and a fair chance to remove his belongings before they
were disposed of, but he was too distraught over his wife and child to pay
attention.
Joseph didn’t heed the
eviction notices and thus didn’t follow through on his responsibility to find
another place. That turned out to be a major mistake. Who knew one bad decision
could lead him to homelessness.
The landlord had
handled everything properly, but Joseph had not. Joseph was drifting around on
the streets now, or at an occasional men’s shelter, but he situation was NOT
good.
Joseph had the
knowledge and skills to get BACK into his life, but he didn’t have the
identification. Whenever he could or had the energy to continue Joseph would
search and search for ways to regain his identification.
Days turned into weeks;
weeks turned into months; and months turned into years and Joseph had no
success. Eventually, he became frustrated and burnt-out and his hope was meager
at its best.
Getting a new ID had
become next to impossible and Joseph felt trapped in an endless cycle of
homelessness and poverty.
He had become a poor
American, whose umbilical cord to the resources of life and personhood had been
cut-off.
After all these years,
he had found no way to reattached himself to normal life or the resources
he needed to become a productive citizen again.
Since Joseph couldn’t
prove who he was, he might as well be invisible since he’d become almost non-existent.
Even though he’d lost
his job, he’d had an interview with Amazon, but without an ID they couldn’t
allow him to work for them. Amazon gave him 30 days to produce his ID and the
job would have been his, but Joseph could not do it.
That was another
discouragement on top of everything else. He tried to do the right thing, but he
couldn’t and now he was just passing time.
Joseph was hunger and
desperate a lot, but he feared committing any crimes. He was concerned about
being arrested without the proper identification.
Life was so fragile. He
was “one” identification short of homelessness and didn’t know it. Now he could
die, or disappear, or continue to be one of the marginalized and no one would
care.
Joseph found
many people to talk to; but homelessness was a lonely life. He felt like he was
on the outside looking into a snowglobe and wishing he was inside too!
It was good to have
family and people to love. It was important to be connected to others and not
become an island unto yourself.
But Joseph was guilty
of avoiding important connections. His wife was beginning to influence his ability
to connect with others. She said it was important to have family and friends.
She was right. Joseph wasn’t connected, had disappeared, and nobody was looking
for him.
Even if he had a phone,
who would call him. When he moved with his wife, there was no one, on his side,
to visit. After he relocated there was no one to leave a forwarding address to.
Now he’d become homeless and it was eating him alive. He’d give anything to
have some connections now.
Joseph had become one
of the invisible, because he had no prove of who he was. Joseph looked around
the tent he lived in and over in the corner were stacks and stacks of forms,
documents, and instructions on how to acquire an ID.
In the stacks and
stacks of forms, documents, and instructions, Joseph had no social security
card, no birth certificate, and no proof of residency.
His TENT had no legal
address, so he would never have a lease or mortgage bill, or a utility bill, or
credit card bill, or car note. Thus he was SOL times two.
When Joseph met UnRee
she told him someone had stolen her identification too, but she didn’t care.
She said nobody cared who she was anyway. She also told him Jesus was looking
for her and he knew who she was.
Joseph asked her how
could she be so sure. UnRee said “...I
just know...in my heart... he’s looking for me. He looks for all lost people. I’m
lost, but he knows where I am and I know he’ll find me...”
He felt stupid for
asking, but he was desperate. “...Do you
think he’s looking for me too?...” UnRee nodded.
“....Yes, he looks for all lost people. Until, he
comes, just call his name out and he’ll help you until he gets to you...I
discovered there is some kind of power in his name...”
Joseph felt
uncomfortable with what UnRee said, but what else did he have to hope in. So in
the privacy of his tent, he called out the name Jesus. He said “...I hope my
circumstances get better and I can get a ID. Help me, Jesus....” Nothing
happened immediately, but a few days later he visited one of the local men’s
shelters to get food and something to drink. One of the volunteers asked him
where he’d been and handed him a envelope.
Joseph slowly opened it
up and it was a copy of his birth certificate. He shouted with glee and said, “...Thank you, Jesus!...”
“… the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself…”
(Deuteronomy
7:6).
"..You did not choose me but I chose
you...” (John 15:16 ASV).
“…The Lord knows those
who are His..." (2 Timothy 2:19 NASB).
“…You can ask for anything in my name, and I “will” do it...” (John 14:12-14 NLT).
“…You can ask
for anything
in my name ...” (John 14:12-14 NLT).
“….You may ask for anything you
want…” (JOHN 15:7 NASB).
“…Ask and it will be
given to you…” (Matthew 7:7 NIV).
“…everyone who asks receives…” (Matthew 7:8 NIV).
“…And this is the confidence that we have in him
(Jesus, the Word), that, if
we ask any thing according to his will (revealed in his word), he heareth us…” (1 John 5:14 KJV). “…[BECAUSE God, the Holy Spirit]...
always hear
me (the WORD of God...”
(John 11:41-42 NLT).
“……
HIS (JESU’S) name is called The
Word of God…” (Revelation 19:12-13 NASB).
“…If we
know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him…” (1
John 5:15 NIV). “…[AND BECAUSE God, the Holy Spirit]...
always hear
[his word]....” (John 11:41-42 NLT).
“… [His
word] shall not return unto [him]… void, but it shall accomplish that
which [God, the Holy Spirit]… please[s],
and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto [God, the Holy Spirit]… sent it…” (Isaiah 55:11 KJV).
UnRee never saw Joseph again.
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