Sunday, August 16, 2009

A Good Time To Be Homeless

Best case scenario: Standing on the street corner near a church that just heard Matthew 25 (sheep and goats passage). BTW: As usual, great message by Paul Sabino and (no offense Paul) but even better drama by Jenni Sabino. The text could not have been brought to life any better. Brilliant.

Actually, I had a great talk with this homeless guy Michael. I got him some food from BK and when I offered him some money, he said, "I'd really like work if you know of any." I offered to help him find the homeless shelter in Ames, but he said he'd sit out awhile longer and then crash under the bridge.

I'm not trying to sound pious, because get this, the day before I drove by a different homeless guy on the same corner, and totally ignored him. I even had some disparaging thoughts as the person ahead of me handed him some cash out of her window, "Wonder what he'll use that for..."

God was good to give me a "re-do." I'm still not sure I passed, but I had no good ideas of how else to help Michael. We prayed together and I went on my way.

I never got his last name. It might've sounded fishy had he said, "the archangel."

As I was driving away he disappeared.

Just kidding.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are so not alone. I have passed many homeless people wondering if I should give them a dollar or two and then deciding not to because they probably won't use it wisely anyway. It was an awesome message and one God had my name written all over.

Chris said...

So here's the question, when it's the same person in the same spot who refuses help, what do you do? You offer to drop him off at the shelter, he says no, then you move on?

I'm pretty sure I saw Michael on the way home yesterday and I thought, "Mark tried to help him, what else is there to do?"

Anonymous said...

I thought it was great that this man said he actually wanted to work. Were you able to help direct him with that? Could he do something with the construction of the new building? His request was honorable and who knows why he's avoiding the homeless shelter--maybe that's not the best place for him to be. I am praying that someone who can give this man a job will have another divine appointment with him.

erin meschke said...

we just watched "the soloist" which left us wondering what we should be doing...there are plenty of opportunities here in portland.