One man's junk is another man's treasure

For those of you who don't know what I have been up to recently, I am kind of on the down and out. For the past 3 months I have been looking for work in Edmonton but have been unsuccessful. I am looking for part time work while I deal with some things and I think finding part time work is more difficult than finding full time work.

Although I do have money left over from my last job and I am kind of been supported through family, friends and EI I am still ambitious to make more so I can support myself. Since work is hard to find I have resorted to finding whatever I can as I journey through the city. Some times I find loose change or bottles and cans or discarded clothing... whatever. If I think it is useful and someone threw it away I might take it.

Anyway, Yesterday I started to do something I did not do before, I started to dig through trash cans to look for recyclables. I found many bottles and cans that people had placed in the wrong spot, but also some other interesting items:

• A decent cake pan (the kind with the removable side)
• A pair of gloves
• A slightly dented unopened can of diced tomatoes
• An unpeeled greenish yellow banana
• A pair of Uggs
• A pack of sheets talking about self esteem (very good advice for me on those sheets)

I took everything but the Uggs; they were not my size. Digging through the trash is humbling, but I am sure that it is a reality that many people have come to in these hard times.

I feel that I am being drawn towards a lifestyle of poverty and that I can not seem to escape from it. During the last Bible Study I went to someone posed the question 'What is God doing in your life [right now]?' This question is based on the assumption that God is always doing something in my life whether I am aware of it or not. Therefore, whatever I am going through right now, God has a part to play in it. This leads me to believe that my state of semi-poverty is somehow ordained, even if it hurts and I don't understand. What is God trying to tell me?

In a recent Facebook status I talked about foot washing and how it has appeared in my life throughout the past 6ish years. The symbol of washing someones feet brings up ideas of humility, service, health, cleanliness, relationship, trust, etc.; it is all around a good thing. When I couple foot washing with my exposure to a lifestyle of poverty I begin to wonder if I am supposed to 'wash the feet of the poor' or whatever that might mean realistically. I will have to look at this closely.