Purpose: This Blog Assignment

I'm a student, taking a course called Hunger & Homelessness.  It's part of the Justice Studies curriculum that I'm taking this fall.  And in this course, one of our assignments is creating this Blog (and two more to follow) on the many issues and our own research of hunger & homelessness.

About Me:

• One of my many goals in this lifetime is to graduate with a college degree. In fact, I plan to be the first one in my family to graduate with a college degree and continue unto law school.  
• Another dream of mine is to work in the field of family law issues, whether as an attorney, paralegal, and/or child advocate.
• I chose to take this class for many reasons.  I am super shy and I'm working on overcoming my fear of public speaking, so I was unable to really express in class as to my reason for taking this course. I chose this class because I was in the predicament of being homeless and hungry at various points of my life.  I am a product of the DCFS (department of child & family services) system and I was 'forgotten' many times and my absence wasn't noticed.  I was homeless during my teen years, and even though it was scary at times, I loved the experience, because I learned to survive.  I also went hungry MANY, MANY days.  Partly because I was never taught to cook (growing up in shelters and group homes, food is always prepared for you) and partly because I didn't have the financial support/resources (I wasn't aware of food stamps).  I had children at a very young age, and I clearly remember going hungry for days just so that the food would last longer for my children, even if it was just hot dogs and pork'n'beans.  It was a nasty cycle that repeated from my own early childhood.  I was raised in a single parent home, and my stepfather didnt know how to cook either.  We would only eat beans and spaguetti-o's from the cans. Every so often he would bring home 'government food', the kind in the white boxes and wrapping.  Powder milk and the block of government cheese was my comfort food.  Good ol' days!  

• So I took this course to better understand these issues, why where we allowed to get to that state of living, what could we have done different , and how can I use this knowledge to help others and keep my family from going through this again.  So, yes, this class is very personal for me.

So why Matthew 25:40?

• Though I wouldn't label myself a full-hearted Christian (I'm flawed), I believe in God.  And even though I hated Him for almost half of my life, deep down I knew and felt that He never left my side.  I was in some pretty rough situations that could have ended in early death, but I am here, alive and well with a few rough edges.
• In short, all Glory is due to Him, and Matthew 25:40 simply states, that what we do for our least fellow man, we do to God.  I interpret 'least' as those less fortunate than us, those who cannot help themselves and need our help.  Though they are 'least', they are still human, and given that this blog is about hunger & homelessness, I couldn't think of a better title to honor those who need our help, those who are forgotten, and those that God loves the most.
• "Come to the water"(the url to this blog) is a song that popped into my head when I was creating this Blog, its a great song, titled "For those Tears I died", this is one of my favorite versions of the song.  Hope you all like it as much as I do.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this very lengthy post.