By night — since Ash Wednesday —
he has been homeless. When he gets cleaned up and goes to Easter services,
he'll have a lot to say.
He has slept in shelters and
under highways (photo), hassled by police, even broke up a fight. With a backpack and
$10 a day, he lived amid the city's street squalor and camaraderie, on the edge
of its addictions and violence.
Last year, Rogers gave up meat
for Lent; this year, a roof over his head.
He already empathized with
homeless people. But the homeless experience has shaped him in unanticipated
ways.
Rogers is 30 and single, raised
in the wealthy Houston suburb of The Woodlands. But he blends in well. He wears
blue jeans, v-neck T-shirts, a ball cap and his trademark Chucks on his feet.
He has told no one his true identify, but four homeless friends figured it out.
In one 12-hour period, Rogers
took a woman to the hospital after running off a boyfriend who was beating her,
then slept on dirt beneath an overpass with homeless peers, waking up to police
officers shouting and shining flashlights in their eyes.
“This is where I'm crazy. I
actually told (my pastor) after this happened that I'm not going to do that for
a while,” Rogers said. “But I did it the next night. I said, ‘If I'm truly
homeless, I wouldn't have a choice.'”
Leaving his comfortable life has deepened
his appreciation for the Easter message, he said, that Christ bridges all
socio-economic groups with the promise of hope and redemption.
“God calls us to love our
neighbor. I agree that means everyone,” Rogers said. “But I also think that
means your actual neighbor on your street. It's a lot more personable than we
make it out to be.”
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