I'd lock my hands behind my head, I'd cover my heart and hit the deck

In almost any college degree program, there seems to be time allocated to discuss the historical development any given vocation. I can only begin to imagine what may be presented for an aspiring bricklayer ;0) As it relates to the "foundations" of what we now title Social Work, there seems to be no shortage of documentation regarding how the poor have been treated, approached, assisted, etc. etc. I think we would all agree that, on a personal level (spiritual even), we consider ourselves more evolved and as viewing the poor in a more appropriate context than some others in history or even that we know now. We don't advocate for midnight raids to ensure TANF money recipients aren't housing a male figure in the home (a reality changed long ago, but nevertheless existed). We don't necessarily believe that homeless people are homeless because they are simply the immoral underbelly of our society. We even recognize how our Federal approach to the poor is not necessarily assisting them in coming out of poverty.

All of this to come to my thought: We develop/participate in/support/rely on various systems to address problems, often forgetting that systems are made up of individual people and are not one uniform mass continually motivated, working cooperatively, all focused on attaining one objective. I don't think that thought has to be hopeless b/c we certainly know that those things that are impossible with men are possible with God. And the Body of

Christ is/can be an awesome thing, truly not described adequately. But I think we absolutely should be terrified of that thought when it comes to not including God in whatever aim.

I am a part of a system in this country that exists to assist the poor, the mentally ill, the addicted. But Jesus is only a part at our individual discernment, and thereby the foundation of what "assist" means is also at each individuals discernment. I feel like assisting preschoolers is really one of the simpler aims when compared to addiction, personality disorders, borderline intellectual functioning, and homelessness. And I've seen some scary stuff when it comes to "assisting" 5 year olds. A therapist with several letters behind her name threatening a 5 year old to call the police if he could not go safely home with his Mother, and then actually doing so. Let us not be deceived, if we are not invested in recognizing and addressing our sin, our fears and aligning our actions with the will of God, we are all susceptible to foolishness despite what we may feel our rational capabilities are. Fear and selfishness are tunnel vision.