FATHERSCRY

FATHER'S CRY

I cried out to you that night and for one divine moment

You heard my desperate voice above all of the others.

Then you reminded me that I am never alone or forsaken

And that there are others who have suffered this same torment.

So then I reminded you of just how much pain I had inside and

How the hurt would just not go away - but you told me to be still.

You then reminded me of how they beat and battered your Son

Before they crucified him and how you actually watched it happen.

Then I tried to explain to you how people just don't understand

This kind of pain and so you reminded me of just how callous those

People were who killed your Son -but how you still loved them anyway.

It was then that I realized that an unsaved world would never understand.

Finally, you gave me the revelation that just as you saw your Son again

Alive and happy - someday I would see mine. He would meet me at the

Gates of Heaven and we'd praise your name together once again - forever.

That insight brought to me such peace and comfort, my hurt started to subside.

Finally, I got up the nerve to ask you "why did I have to go through this?"

And almost immediately I saw the tear stained faces and heard the awful

Desperate cries of all of those who have ever lost a child - so I started to understand,

That the world is much, much bigger than just me and my hurt and my pain.

Tom DiFrancesca III

* In loving memory of my eleven year-old son
Christopher Thomas DiFrancesca
(February 26, 1981 - April 12, 1992)
and dedicated to all of those parents
who have ever lost a child.
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RESOURCES

54 WAYS YOU CAN HELP THE HOMELESS
I have never been homeless. But I often wondered what it would be like to live, night after night, on the streets or in a public shelter. I have, however, spent long restless evenings sleeping with homeless men, women, and children at our Temple's shelter (a school by day). Time after time, I found myself waking, flooded by the sadness that decent people were sleeping in our classrooms, all their remaining possessions crammed into shopping bags.
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HOMELESS CHILDREN NETWORK
The Homeless Children's Network (HCN) is a collaborative of thirteen homeless and domestic violence programs created in 1992. The trauma of homelessness is often compounded by problems of child abuse, domestic violence, parental substance abuse, chronic instability, poverty and mental illness. Without early intervention, these conditions can become perpetuated in a family through generations. HCN responds to the traumas of homelessness by providing therapy and case management support to homeless children and their families.
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NATIONAL HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS - Joining hands in the fight against homelessness
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council is a membership organization of health care providers working with homeless people across the United States. The Council exists to help bring about reform of the health care system to best serve the needs of people who are homeless. Towards that end, the Council works in alliance with others whose broader purpose is to eliminate homelessness and provides support to National Council members.
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POETS' PORCH - P. JONES
MEN - KEEPING IT REAL
FATHER'S LOVE LETTER

GREAT RESOURCES BELOW

A BULLOCK CREATION