Merry Christmas

25 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by Seeking Peace in #time4change, homeless, Uncategorized

NOTE: This was originally written several months ago but I thought I would share this memory of Christmas past.

Yes, Christmas 2017 is already past and Christmas 2018 is a long way off but an event this past December still weighs heavily on my mind. I was in Fort Worth at a local Mexican food restaurant to buy tamales for our Christmas day lunch. It was a cold, dreary day. I remember the temperature being 37 degrees as I drove away from the restaurant with a cold rain falling. I remember this because of the man under the tree.

As I was walking in to buy my tamales I saw a man sitting under a tree on the side of the building. He was sitting on a retaining wall with a walker in front of him. He was speaking to someone else going by as I went inside. I assumed he was waiting on someone inside and hoped they were on the way out because it was cold and the rain was starting to pick up. As I left the restaurant, I saw a woman giving him something from the bakery and assumed it was his companion. It was then I realized she was getting in the car with someone else and driving off as the man sat there and ate. As I walked by him, he asked if I had any change. I told him I didn’t have any at the moment and his reply still rings in my ears. “Merry Christmas to you.” He said it with sincerity and hope. He said it in a way that brought tears to my eyes and almost stopped me in my tracks.

Merry Christmas to me? I was about to get in my nice truck and turn on the seat heaters. I was about to drive to Costco to meet my daughter and buy a lot more food for our big weekend with family coming over to eat and exchange gifts in our warm, comfortable house. Merry Christmas to me?

I did have cash in the truck and walked back to him and gave him $15 then offered a broken “Merry Christmas” to him. Then I was off in my truck, seat heaters keeping my butt toasty warm as he sat on a wall, in the rain, and the temperature registering 37 degrees on my truck screen.

I cried. I cried almost all of the way to Costco. I kept thinking I should turn around, give him the tamales, get some cash out of the ATM and give it to him. The only thing that stopped me was the question, “then what?” Could I have taken him somewhere to get him out of the rain and cold? Did he have a place to stay, any people that cared about him?

It’s a question that still haunts me. As the days have gotten colder, as the temperature has gone below freezing, I wonder where the man with the walker is, where he is sheltering from the cold and drizzle. Is he surviving this weather?

I have spent time and money trying to help the homeless and learned it was a bigger job than I could manage on my own. It takes a lot of resources to help those who have nothing. It takes a lot of patience, love, mercy and compassion. I am thankful for places like CitySquare (www.citysquare.org) and Presbyterian Night Shelter (www.journeyhome.org) and others who make it happen. Yet, the man who wished me Merry Christmas haunts me as I want to do more, help more, come up with better answers.

Until then, he and others like him will be on my mind and will get help from me from time to time. Until then, Merry Christmas.

Grace and peace.

#time4change #lovemore

Loving Others

05 Friday Aug 2011

Posted by Seeking Peace in God's love, homeless, The Shack

≈ 1 Comment

I met a couple of homeless guys in Decatur last Saturday. They weren’t very lovable. They didn’t say much so it’s hard to know how to help them or if I can help them or if they want help. The easy thing to do at this point would be to move on and look for someone who is easier to love or just go do whatever it is I want to do and do some loving on myself (hope you see the drips of sarcasm in the last part). Instead, I’m going to try and find them again and talk to them again and to let them know that love exists in this world for them. I don’t know where they’ve been or what they’ve done but I know God loves them and I know how God wants me to feel about them.

Ivar gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12356560-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}
I was reminded of The Shack this past week and the great lesson I learned from that book that we are all God’s children, all made in his image and all doing things we shouldn’t always be doing. No one is perfect. Not those guys on the streets. Not my boss. Not the people around me. Not my kids. Certainly not me. Yet we are all God’s children, made in his image and under attack by a force wanting to pull us away from his perfect and unconditional love.

Ivar gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12356560-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}
I’ve experienced God’s perfect and unconditional love and still I try to walk away at times telling myself God can’t love a sinner like me. Day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month I’m learning more about his love and believing that nothing I do can shake it so I tell myself more and more than he does love me. He loves me when I mess up and he loves me when I live in his power and will and glory. The incredible thing about being open to his love is that it makes me want to live in his vision for me and not my own – his love is a mighty, powerful force. I just have to be open to it. And ready to share it.

Going "Home"

30 Monday May 2011

Posted by Seeking Peace in enough, homeless, Mike, Preston, Wendell

≈ 1 Comment

I took Wendell and Preston home from church yesterday. We had a good visit on the way with Wendell doing most of the talking and Preston cracking a few jokes at Wendell’s expense along the way. I heard about how good Preston had slept the night before and their fascination that the hotel they were in had a phone in the bathroom. They couldn’t figure that one out. When we pulled up, they unloaded their stuff and got to take a brisket, beans, potato salad, cookies and cupcakes with them. Not a bad haul!

Ivar gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12356560-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}
The hard part of the whole thing was dropping them off because they are staying under a large tree that provides a good bit of shade with the Texas heat in the 90’s to 100 degrees. They’ve been run off a few times because it’s close to an office building and they don’t hang out there much during the week. Preston wouldn’t let me pull up in the parking lot close to the tree because he didn’t want anyone to notice them getting out there if possible. I left them there with some food, a little money and the knowledge that I was headed back to a comfortable place to live, air conditioning, a job that provides all I need and a reminder that I am blessed and that God is hoping I’ll share some of what he has provided for me.

Oh Lord, let Wendell and Preston and Mike be forever present in my mind so that when I start wanting this or that, I’ll remember my friends who live under a tree with the clothes on their back and their appreciation for their bikes and their backpacks. I pray you’ll be with them and let them know you are with them always, that you love them completely and that this world and it’s sufferings are only temporary. Open my eyes to see what you want me to see so I may serve how you want me to serve.

Grace and peace to you.