1.0The Coffee Oasishttps://thecoffeeoasis.comCreative Communicationshttps://thecoffeeoasis.com/author/creative-communications/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="n3PdqJH7yG"><a href="https://thecoffeeoasis.com/easter-meditation-day-1-vulnerable-and-despised-2021/">Easter Meditation Day 1: Vulnerable and Despised</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://thecoffeeoasis.com/easter-meditation-day-1-vulnerable-and-despised-2021/embed/#?secret=n3PdqJH7yG" width="600" height="338" title="“Easter Meditation Day 1: Vulnerable and Despised” — The Coffee Oasis" data-secret="n3PdqJH7yG" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(c,d){"use strict";var e=!1,o=!1;if(d.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage);else if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(!t);else if(!(t.secret||t.message||t.value));else if(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret));else{for(var r,s,a,i=d.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),n=d.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),l=0;l<n.length;l++)n[l].style.display="none";for(l=0;l<i.length;l++)if(r=i[l],e.source!==r.contentWindow);else{if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(s=parseInt(t.value,10)))s=1e3;else if(~~s<200)s=200;r.height=s}if("link"===t.message)if(s=d.createElement("a"),a=d.createElement("a"),s.href=r.getAttribute("src"),a.href=t.value,!o.test(a.protocol));else if(a.host===s.host)if(d.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),d.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(o);else{o=!0;for(var e,t,r,s=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11\./),i=d.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),n=0;n<i.length;n++){if(!(r=(t=i[n]).getAttribute("data-secret")))r=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),t.src+="#?secret="+r,t.setAttribute("data-secret",r);if(s||a)(e=t.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),t.parentNode.replaceChild(e,t);t.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:r},"*")}}}}(window,document); </script> https://thecoffeeoasis.mystagingwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Easter-Meditations-Crown-Banner_R1-v1-01.png1200638I can remember seeing him for the first time. We received several calls concerning a young man holding a cardboard sign near the Safeway on the corner of 11th and Callow. The callers thought he looked “in our age range” and would benefit from connecting with The Coffee Oasis.We learned that he was called Hobbit on the streets. He was short and over-sized clothing hung on his small frame. His light skin was hidden by days unshowered and dark, disheveled hair. At our first meeting, his eyes were alert and nervous. He stuttered speaking. Nearby was a cardboard recycling container where he slept in at night.In all my years of living alongside young men and women who are experiencing homelessness, I have never been able to understand how someone so young and frail can be so completely rejected. Rejection that increases with the experiences of every day. Waking up alone. Nobody to call who will say, “Come home tonight.” Watching every car that passes and wondering if one will stop and offer help.The young man holding the sign on the corner of 11th and Callow begs for more than money and food. He begs to be noticed. It is easier to not notice. To accept and not reject this young man is complicated. Love is complicated.In some mysterious way, I am reminded by this homeless young man of our Savior revealed in Isaiah 53, “He grew up…like a tender shoot…he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” Jesus came, tender and unattractive, despised and rejected, and he waits for us to notice him. He waits with the homeless young man, too.