We Come with Empty Hands

Phyllis Cole-Dai, James Murray

The Unknown is the crucible of the human spirit. If we give ourselves to it with faith, inevitably we undergo a change, and little by little the world changes with us.

From February 17 through April 4, 1999, James Murray and I lived voluntarily on the streets of Columbus, Ohio. This period of 47 days, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday, coincided with the Christian observance of Lent and Holy Week.

We didn't go out on the streets to satisfy idle curiosity or to experience a strange new world. We didn't go out to find answers to questions or to search out solutions to problems. We didn't go out to save anyone or to hand out donations of food and blankets. We went out for one primary reason: to be as present as possible to everyone we met, homeless person, volunteer, university president, cop. In other words, we set out, in our own way, to love our neighbors as ourselves, with eyes open, mind's open, hearts open, hands open as wide as they could be, not ignoring potential risks but not looking for trouble either. Doing so, we were reminded just how difficult the practice of compassion can be, not only because of external obstacles and distractions, or physical hardships, but even more because of our own judgments, assumptions, fears and desires, all of which hardened our regard for and behavior toward other people.

The Emptiness of Our Hands: 47 Days on the Streets 

[From Patricia: I just finished this book, which I highly recommend. I read far into the night because I could not put it down. After reading The Emptiness of our Hands I will never look at a homeless person the same way again. Though both authors are Christian, this is not two Christians going after converts - far from it. The book, the story is so real, so face-to-face with suffering, theirs and that of others, that it is admittedly hard to read at times. They went out with no intention except to "be present"; God/Truth is nowhere, if not the present moment.]