Do you ever pause to wonder what we mean when we say someone is 'normal'? The reason I ask is the last few weeks I have had quite a few concerned residents call me about a man who has been sleeping on our front stairs. Here is a snippet of some of those conversations:

"Do you know that you have a homeless man sleeping on your front porch?"

"Do you know that you have a transient making his permanent home on your steps?"

"He is not welcome, nor a part of this community."

"What has he contributed to this community anyways?"

"You know he is not stable."

Of course the underlying point to each of these concerns is that this man does not fit our perception of normal, and thus he is seen as a threat and as dangerous. Yes, he likes to sleep outside, but considering how much waste we create by sleeping in overgrown houses, perhaps he has the sounder mind on that issue. Yes, he likes to hang around public places, but while you might consider that to be creepy, what is really happening is that he is lonely and seeks friendship.

A few weeks ago we were bringing some equipment into the building and we woke our friend up from his home. The first words out of our mouths were words of apology for waking him up. To this day, every time we talk he still mentions that incident because, as he puts it, "we are the only people who treat him as a fellow human being."

I am reminded that just because someone lives life differently than me does not make him or her a subclass of humans that can be treated with disrespect. God came to save the whole world, and that includes the people we think are different.

Lieutenant Peter Lublink and his wife, Alison, are the corps officers of High Point Community Church in Victoria. Prior to entering The Salvation Army’s College for Officer Training in Winnipeg, Peter managed a small marketing and business solutions firm in the Toronto area. For more details on Peter and his community of High Point, visit www.pointful.ca.