Job 3-4
Yesterday in Chicago, on my way back from the McCormick center to O'Hare, a very outspoken homeless man approached me and another guy from the conference that I was walking with. He was using a fake British accent and medieval-style quotations (such as "m' lady" and "m' lord"), so I don't remember now what he said exactly, but it was something about "helping him in the name of Jesus" or something like that. Even then, I still tried to weasel out of helping him by telling him that I didn't have any cash (which I didn't), but he suggested that I could buy him some food (which I could afford to do because (1) the Lord has blessed me and my wife with good jobs, and (2) my flight wasn't scheduled to depart for another four hours). So, I awkwardly said goodbye to the gentleman that I was walking with and told him that I was going to help this guy out.
He led me around the corner and guided me to an alley to take the "shortcut" to get to the nearest grocery store. As he paused to relieve himself on the back corner of a building, I was thinking, "What have I gotten myself into." When we resumed our walk to the grocery store, I told him, "I am going to ask you an honest question, because I think you can handle it. I am curious, what is the greatest impediment to escaping homelessness?" Immediately, his demeanor changed. He dropped the fake accent, and he dropped the "look how bad I've had it, please pity me", song and dance that he had been giving me, and I could tell that he was being honest with me. He basically told me that he thought it was easier for an immigrant to come from another country and succeed in the States than it was for a homeless person to work their way out of homelessness because of the stigma that our society places on homelessness. He basically said that the regular loneliness, rejection, and abuse that is common to homelessness is what makes so many of them go crazy.
As we were waiting in queue inside the grocery story, I tried to steer the conversation to a spiritual discussion. "I have heard you mention the Lord a couple of times ..." He interrupted me as he said something about Jesus and pulled a small Gideon New Testament out of his fanny pack. The cover was worn, but the pages looked straight and white. So, I challenged him, "That's great that you have a copy of the Scriptures, but do you read it?" He said something else which I couldn't quite understand, but it seemed like he was caught off guard just a bit. I pressed further. "What does it mean to follow the Lord." His response astonished me. "To suffer. But to love as you suffer." Wow. I don't know how you could understand that but not know the Lord. He continued, "He suffered way more than me; my suffering is small compared to His. So, I just love people the way that He did."
After I bought him a fried chicken wing and a fried chicken breast (his choice), he perked up with bright eyes and asked me, "Will you buy me a subway pass?" "Sure.", I told him. Holding the seven-day pass that I bought him, he told me with sincere gratitude in his eyes and voice, "This will give me a place to stay." The previous night, he had slept in the park in the rain.
Job 1:20Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
Heavenly Father, please help me see people and the world through your eyes. Please give me your vision for my life, and teach me to follow Christ my Lord. Father, thank you for taking care of me, but please forgive me for thinking that financial stability is equivalent to your grace. Grace is so much more than a job to work or money to spend. May the true treasure of my heart be Jesus Christ, and may your love flow through me. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, who suffered and proved His love for me. Amen.
