Book Review: Under The Overpass

Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski

I’ve been putting off reviewing this book for some time, not because it was bad but, rather, because it was so good I’m not sure I can do it justice.

It’s the real life story of two college age guys who decide to set off with nothing but their guitar and the clothes on their backs to live as homeless people for five months. I have to admit, when I originally chose the book, I didn’t expect be all that convicted. I thought it would be full of interesting stories (it was) but I didn’t really think it would be highlighting any areas of sin in my life – mostly because I didn’t really think my view on the homeless needed any changing.

I could not have been more wrong.

What I found was that there is major room for improvement in both my attitude and actions towards those “under the overpass”. My copy of the book has multiple pages with corners turned down because there were so many things I wanted to be able to go back and revisit.

I certainly can’t share them all here, but let me just give you a summary of what this book did for me.

1. It changed the way I pray – You know, good Christians are supposed to pray before every meal, right? But I’ll be honest, this had gotten to be such a ritual for me that most of the time I just said the words with out thinking, “Thank you Lord for this food.”
   
   That’s not how I pray now. Now I say, “Thank you Lord that you have provided me with food to eat. That I can go to the grocery store and don’t have to rummage through trash or beg on the streets just to get enough to keep me alive. Thank you Lord that we have a warm house and clothes and blankets and a heater to shelter us from the bitter cold and snow.”
   
2. It changed the way I view the homeless – Like I said, I didn’t think I really needed much work in this area before I read this book. I’m not proud of this, but my attitude towards the homeless before this was basically, “Well, most of them have made poor choices that resulted in the life they are now living. They’ve chose to sin, and now they are paying the consequences. I don’t want to enable them to go right back to the drugs and alcohol that got them there in the first place.”
   
   I’m ashamed to even admit that, because what I see now is that that kind of attitude couldn’t possibly be further from the gospel. Mike says it best in the book:
   
   ”Where would I be (and where would you be) if God had simply said, “To each his own,” and withheld His love? The good news of the gospel is that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). It is this kind of love, undeserved and unconditional, that Christians are called to have for others, for we ourselves have been so loved.”
   
   Where would I be, indeed?

Obviously, you don’t want to enable someone to continue living in a life of sin. But that doesn’t mean ignoring them or “leaving them to their consequences”. Meeting someone’s physical needs can be a tremendous tool to making them open to hearing the gospel – and that has the power to transform them from a life of sin to one of obedience to God like nothing else.

Mike gives some practical advice from his experience on the streets of ways that believers can reach out to those in need without becoming enablers. And it’s more than just monetary:

“If we are the body of Christ – and Christ came not for the healthy but the sick – we need to be fully present in the places where people are most broken. And it has to be more than just a financial presence. That helps, of course. But too often money is insulation – it conveniently keeps us from ever having to come face-to-face with a man or woman whose life is in tatters.”

Let me just leave you with one last thought – probably the most convicting thought I pulled from the book – it’s a quote from the introduction by Francis Chan. He says:

“…study to the neglect of action becomes easier with each occurrence. We should be terrified if we have mastered the art of becoming convicted and doing nothing in response.”

I don’t want that to happen. I want the changes this book brought to my attitudes to show forth in my actions.

I would highly, highly recommend this book. It’s short, it’s fascinating, it’s easy to read, and it’s absolutely worth your time.

Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski is available for purchase in paperback or as an e-book at WaterBrook Multnomah.

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This book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah. All opinions are strictly my own.