Hey,
I had something really cool happen to me this morning and I really wanted to share it with you. Figured gmail would be the best platform for it.
I was in St. Charles this weekend visiting the Mabry's when Zach Hyde calls me and asks for me to do him a huge favor. He told me that he was taking a bus up to St. Louis so he can come back to Macon and he needed a ride. So I told him that oddly enough I was already in town and as long as he got in early enough for me to go get him and get back to work then that works out great. His bus was set to arrive at the station around 7:30 this morning so I would just have to wake up early enough to go down there and get him. Simple enough right?
Well I woke up today at about 8:00 and tried giving him a call to let him know that I was coming. His phone was off, and I had no way of getting ahold of him. I guess it was just dead so I figured that nothing changed and I needed to pick him up anyways. I head downtown to the Amtrak/Greyhound station to get him. Walked in to see an almost empty station. I asked the Greyhound lady if a bus had stopped by from Texas and she said no. Asked the Amtrak lady about a train, still a no. Tried calling him again and after about 20 minutes or so he called me back. Said it'd be around 11:30 until he got there.
I had about two and a half hours to kill and walked outside to head to my car, get some food and read a little. As I walked out I had a guy shout out to me and asked if I had a cigarette. I told him that I didn't, but I do happen to have some gum in my car.
We walked over to my car and he thanked me for it. Started talking to him found out his name was James and that he is 42 years old. He asked about my stethescpe I had and asked if I worked in the health field. Told him about my trainig and asked what he did and if he was fom around the area. He looked back, smiled, and said, "You could say that. I'm currently unemployed though. I guess some would say that I'm homeless."
So I told him about being from out of town and that I was waiting for a friend to get off the bus, but that it would be a couple hours before that, so why not hang out until then? I asked him if he had gotten anything to eat this morning, in which he hadn't, and we started to walk towards Union Station where there's some fast food joints and we were gonna share breakfast together.
We talked about everything. He was actually a pretty intelegant man, well informed in politics and current events, along with educated and religious. He said something along the lines of, "Time is funny. The past is called the past, 'cause it's past. The not sure why the future is called the way it is but it is, but the present is special. The present is today, and I like that. Cause each day is a gift."
He told me about how he was a chef at a nice restaurant downtown and he had a wife and daughter. A few years ago they were in a car accident where a drunk driver had hit them and both had died. After that he just hit a real low stage and lost everyting.
I had no idea what to say back to that. So I went with the only thing I knew and started off on how sometimes the church is so worried about the hell in the after life, that we sometimes miss bringing heaven to earth to counter the hell here. He smiled and said, "Like in the Lord's Prayer. 'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven." I laughed back in agreeance.
After seeing nothing we wanted at Union Station we decided we'd find a White Castle to get some grub there. On the way we talked more about life and God and how the world/America has seemed to forget some of the teachings of their savior. Like in Matthew 5 how we're supposed to care for the weak and the hungry, and in just the next chapter how we aren't supposed to store up treasures on earth but in heaven.
We saw some pigeons flying around and we shared stories about him sharing bread with the birds, and me having fun with them over in Vienna. He then continued into Matthew 6:25-26 even further with how God takes care of them, and of course he'll do the same for us. We talked about his hopes for his portable grill stand he wanted to set up in downtown and how I, with my EMT work, was hoping for the job that I'd soon be looking for.
We get to White Castle where he saw someone he recognized and she smiled when she saw him. They talked a little and she blessed us in our day and went on her way. There were others he knew there too, apparently this man knew his area, and had been sharing with the people the lord and his light.
We orderd 2 #1's with 4 sliders, fries, and a drink. Sat and ate and talked even further. He shared about the homelessness problem from a first person point view and we talked of "inner city life" (we both thought it was funny they called it that cause how do you have a city in a city?) I shared about growing up in faith, and then straying away with and my run in with drugs and alcohol.
That's when we talked about Matthew 16:24-27 with how to gain a new life, we must lose oursleves and forget the world. We talked about how he's lost his worries in the world and is carrying his cross, and he even challenged me to do the same. He said that he can't wait to see the treasures the lord has for him, and he joked about how he'll be one of the first since he's in last now. Ha!
We finished our meal and I noticed he still had two more burgers in his bag. I asked him about it and he said, "You know how we were talking about the Lord's Prayer? Well the next part of it is daily bread. And I'm saving these for two kids I met yesterday" That hit me hard. Not only have I been struggling with the ideas of losing this life and gaining new, or bringing the kingdom here, or what that would even look like. I also had been worrying about my future and daily bread. All of these things we talked about were so parrallel to things I've been thinking lately that it was almost frightening.
He then continued with this story of his experience with daily bread, that had just happened in the last 24 hrs. Yesterday he had asked a nice dressed man if he could spare any bit of money so that he could eat. The man then reached into his pocket, grabbed his money, and started counting. James said he must have counted through about thirty $100 bills before the man looked back and him and said, "Sorry, if I had any smaller bills I'd give you them."
I was heart broken to hear that, classic story of the rich missing the point and not helping the poor. I mean what's the difference between $2900 and $3000 to you if you just carry it in your wallet like it was nothing? I expressed my anger about that and he just kinda laughed.
"I was mad at first of course", he said, "I mean I just watched him count this abundance of money that most people don't make in a month only to hear that he didn't have any smaller ones to give. As if I wasn't worth just one of the large ones. But instead of getting mad I looked and him and said, 'That's fine, sir. Thank you for your time. I know the lord will provide me somehow. God bless.' And I walked away.
I couldn't believe he just said that.....
Another guy on the street had saw that happen and he rushed up to James and said to him, "Hey... I only have $7, but I'll give it to you so you can eat." He thanked and blessed him and started walking down the street to the store to get some grub, but God wasn't done yet.
On his walk it started to rain, and he had an umbrella someone had given him the other day during the real bad storm (yeah... the tornado one.) and he kept treking on. That's when he happened to pass a family of four, two of which were younger kids, that were huddled under a single blanket trying to stay dry and keep warm. He stopped to talk to them, gave them the umbrella, even went to the alley he kept his stuff at and got another blanket for them too. After all that he reached into his pocket and gave them the $7. They tried to deny the money to which he said again, "It'll be fine, my God will provide for me."
He went back "home", soaking wet, and cuddled up in his last blanket and fell asleep...
He was saving those burgers to give to the kids that he provided for the day before...
He knew God was gonna provide for him back...
Of course the next day when he woke up, he went to the bus station, as I did, looking for something, and like I had found nothing that we were looking for. But the beauty of it is we happened to cross paths.
By that time Zach's bus arrived and he helped us carry his luggage to the car. I asked him if he knew how to get back to the highway and he said that if I gave him a ride he'd show me. (he was headed that way anyways). He bragged to Zach about the awesome morning we had, the laughs we shared, the things we talked about, the food we ate, and the wonderful gift God had given us both that morning. He said that Zach should be thankful for a great guy like me picking him up, and he also mentioned that he knew I'd g on to be a great EMT and man of God (I can only pray and hope he's right, and accept that complement wih humble gradification).
We pulled up to a corner and he said, "That's my stop, thanks for the ride. Oh and I'll be seeing you later, someday." I told him I'd be praying for him and he said likewise. And that was it...
So please... pray for James. Pray that in the life he's lost, and the place of last he's in, that God will continue to provide his daily bread. Pray that he continues to be a light for the people he touches in the downtown area. Pray that eventually his life will have abundance, so he can be generous for the glory of God. And if not, pray that his light never goes out, so that when he goes to be with God, and we meet again, that his treasures will be great.
Amen
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