Train of thought

The other day I was reading "when helping hurts". One of the end of chapter questions asked why do you want to help people in poverty? It was trying to answer that question that inspired my post earlier this week. In the chapter it talked about in our culture we think of results in goals set with times lines and number results. I realized just how much I identified with this notion. I was thinking about the time I spent volunteering at local homeless shelter while in college. It was the idea of numbers and goals made me frustrated and end up quit volunteering. I visited the homeless shelter once or twice a week for about a year. During that time I began to develop a relationship with residents, specifically Curtis and Robert. At one point the guys at the shelter threw a BBQ for me and told me to invite friends. We spoke openly about religion and life experiences but I was set on the numbers of saved souls or lack there of that I couldn't appreciate the relationship that were being developed. I quit because I didn't see the point because I didn't understand that numbers mean nothing. If I was just a number to people who invested in me they would have given up years ago. Now looking back I am sad that I couldn't see what I was doing was bigger than just numbers.

At the BBQ