When you talk to Fred Christiansen its not immediately apparent why he chooses to live under a bridge. He has a healthy, fully-functional body and a charming personality, and is not addicted to drugs or alcohol. At first glance, you can't help but wonder why he doesn't just leave his tent and go better his life. You'd never know until you talked to him. Fred served a term in the Army during the Vietnam War, during which he was captured as a prisoner of war. For two years, Fred lived in a 4×4 box where he ate a bowl of rice one day and was beaten and tortured the next. For over 700 days, that was Fred's life.

Because of that horrific experience, Fred can no longer stay within the confines of a building. Even during the Christmas dinner, he couldn't help but feel claustrophobic inside the church; even as he was surrounded by the people who loved him, he fought the temptation to run back to his tent.

Without an outreach program like Light Under the Bridge, this story  would never have been told. Fred  would be just a blurred face in the masses of the forgotten.

By God's grace, we are called and driven to these men and women whose voices are not heard.

Its easy to write-off someone. The work is to open your heart and empathize and put yourself in their lives; to see what they see and to feel what they feel. Its easy to see the tragedy in a catastrophe like Haiti, but do you see that same tragedy when an abusive father abandons his child? Do you see the tragedy in a woman who has abandoned all pride to stand on a side of a road asking for money? When a young couple decides it's more fulfilling to live a nomadic life on the train tracks living on handouts than to live a life in a home with a family created on a foundation of love and the security of our Father?

 Fred whole-heartedly wants to go home, but has a long way to dispel the demons that tie him down to the streets. As his goal lies in front of him, he openly awaits us every Saturday, building relationships, reading his Bible, and praying that God will set him free.

This is just one story, one of the millions that need to be heard. God willing, we will never fully understand how alone they feel. But if you can, for a moment, hold their loneliness and abandonment, truly comprehend life without love, then I ask you to take action. As God has blessed us all, He asks us to bless others with a fraction of the love He has given us. No matter how, when, or where you do it, let nothing or nobody stand in your way to love the unloved