A few weeks ago, I was on my way home from church and I saw a woman walking down the street. I drove past her and felt very clearly that God was asking me to go pick her up and give her a ride. I kept trying to shake the feeling because, heck, Mom always told you not to talk to strangers and to never pick up hitch-hikers, right? But, the Lord kept prompting, and I finally gave in and turned around. It turned out she wasn’t going too far, and I gave her a ride. She was clearly having a hard day and needed a little kindness from someone. After I dropped her off, I prayed for her, and didn’t think of it much again until tonight.

Tonight I was driving home from GENESIS and I saw her again, in about the same place, walking in the opposite direction. So, once again, I drove past her but felt like God was asking me to turn around. And so, once again, I turned around and picked her up. She recognized me and thanked me. But when I asked her where she was going, she told me that she didn’t have anywhere to go. She’s homeless and was just planning to walk around all night to stay warm.

So, I pulled into a parking lot, kept the car running and the heat on, and just listened to her story for a couple hours. I tried to offer to pay for her to stay in a hotel for the night, but she refused. She told me she’d tried some shelters but they were all really scary and that she felt more comfortable risking it with the drunks out on the streets at night. And it broke my heart that I couldn’t help her more. I didn’t think my roommates would be too pleased with me if I invited to her stay with us, and I don’t know of any shelters in my area at all, much less one that I could recommend that would be safe. So, in the end, I had to let her out of the car and watch her walk away. She thanked me for my kindness, but I just felt sad that I couldn’t do more.

What good is it to be nice to someone, or to love them, if you don’t take care of their needs? This is a question I’ve asked myself a lot having seen all I’ve seen in the mission field. It’s a question I have asked of the church quite a bit. James 2:14-18 says “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.” What is the church, what is my church, doing to help this woman and others like her? What can I do? I can pray for her. I can give her a ride and a couple hours of warmth. I can give her food. I can give her compassion, mercy, love, and respect. I can listen. I just wish I could do more. And I wish I could point her to others who would do more.

In Chicago, I worked with an amazing homeless ministry called Breakthrough Urban Ministries. I absolutely love that place. In Boston, I’ve heard great things about Rosie’s Place – in fact it’s one of the organizations that benefits from my Give program (check out my website for more details). But, I don’t know of anything in Woburn, or nearby. Do any of you? Seriously, I am looking for suggestions. The next time I see my new friend, I want to be able to truly help her. Give me some great ideas, people! :)

And one final thought, or encouragement. The next time you walk by a homeless person, or drive by someone struggling down the street, what will you do? Think about it. Pray about it. And ACT on it. Don’t just say you want to help people, or say you love or care for people. Do it. Imagine the difference it would make in people’s lives if every one who claims to love Jesus (or anyone at all), actually went out of their way to show that love to others. Just imagine what that would do…

And M, if you found my site and my blog from the card I gave you, and if you’re reading this – please know that I’m praying for you. I pray that God would keep you safe tonight, and warm. And I pray that you would find Jesus out there, and that He would pull you up out of this hard situation so that you would know how much He loves you. And I pray that we would meet again someday, soon. ]]> http://kristaphotoblog.com/2008/10/on-my-way-home-from-church/feed/ 9 http://kristaphotoblog.com/2007/12/sarah-allie/ http://kristaphotoblog.com/2007/12/sarah-allie/#comments Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:42:00 +0000 Krista Guenin http://kristaphotoblog.com/2007/12/sarah-allie/ Right after Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to photograph Sarah & Allie. Sarah & Allie are sisters, and their Dad leads worship and is an elder at my church. His wife thought it would be a great surprise to have photos of the girls taken for him for Christmas. So, they came over to my place on “Black Friday” and we had some fun! Since it was a surprise, I couldn’t share them with you until after Christmas, but now that the cat’s out of the bag – check ‘em out!!

Sarah & Allie laughing it up in the warm glow of the sunset. The sunlight was warm, but the air outside was COLD – they were such good sports!!

A slighty more vintage version of the same scene

and cross-processed…

Allie in the sun

And Sarah

Eventually, we had to put jackets back on to keep them from freezing. Here’s a couple shots against the back of my house.

Sarah joked about climbing the tree in my back yard, and I wasn’t about to let her get away without actually doing it! Allie got up there too, and the shots ended up being some of my favorites from the day! (don’t you just love that barn next door in the background?!)

Finally, their noses were getting all red and my fingers were getting numb, so we headed inside. I don’t have a studio in my apartment, but I do have some awesome wallpaper in the hallway – so that’s where we shot :)

And for the last shots of the day, we headed to the kitchen. See, Allie & Sarah are AMAZING cooks – or bakers, rather. So, my original idea was to get them cooking in their kitchen. Since it was a surprise for Dad, and he was at the house, we made do with looking at cookbooks in my kitchen instead. My kitchen is small, but right at sunset, it has the most beautiful light!

All in all, it was a really fun shoot! Thanks Sarah & Allie for being such good sports and for making my job so easy :) I hope your Dad loved his Christmas present!!

Flash forward 5 1/2 years. I now live in Boston (well, Woburn actually) and I’m preparing to leave my part-time studio job and take on my own photography business full-time!!!!!!! I can’t believe it! It’s been such a blessing to see how the Lord has provided for me over the years, especially since I moved out here last year.

I still can’t believe how much I’ve learned and grown in 5 years. This, of course, is all thanks to the many amazing photographers who have graciously taught me along the way… Steven E. Gross gave me a chance and the opportunity to learn the hard way – by actually doing it. My 5+ years working with Steven at Real Life Weddings has truly made me the photographer I am today. And the wonderful Matt & Enna Grazier who I’ve worked with for the last year have been such an encouragement and inspiration! Since working with them I can see such a change in myself – my work has improved, my passion has increased, and my confidence is up! Without them, I don’t know if I’d even feel ready for all of this. Every photographer I’ve worked with has taught me something and I’m so thankful to each one – Robert Mirani, Stephen Serio (aka Serpico), Mark Tomaras, Alternate Angles, Tsar Fedorsky, and many more. Thank you for all of your encouragement and help over the years!

I’m so excited for this new chapter in my life and I can’t wait to see what happens next!