This is one of my old blog posts from 2006. I decided to keep it and give it a "makeover". It has a great message.
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David opened the car door of our red Mustang, immediantly drawn to the crowd congregating on the front lawn of a house down the street.
What's strewn all over the lawn? Someone's belongings? Is the sheriff forcing someone out of their house? Beep! He hit the lock button on the car key and made his way up the sidewalk to the front porch of our house, continuing to glance back at the commotion.
"Hi, Babe," I called to him, hearing the front door shut.
"There's something going on down the street."
"What?"
"I don't know. There's a bunch of people gathered on one of the neighbor's lawns. I'm going to take Harlee for a walk and check it out. Wanna come?"
"Sure."
As we approached the house, it became clear that someone's belongings were covering the front lawn. People were picking through the mess and carting off furniture, dishes, decor, videos, books, etc. David approached someone and asked what was going on.
"The man who lived here passed away and his son declined his belongings. All this stuff is free for the taking."
David and I looked at each other. David said, "You wanna look?"
"Sure."
So we joined the scavengers. While looking through the mess, David found a brand new walker.
I looked at David, puzzled. "Why would you want a walker?"
"There's a homeless man that wanders the streets downtown, close to where I work. He uses a walker because he only has one leg, and his walker looks kind of beat up. Do you think I should take this for him?"
"I'm sure the man would love that," I replied, proud of him for thinking of someone he didn't even know while rummaging through a lawn covered in free stuff. I was certainly thinking of what I could find for myself!
David took the walker with him to work. Sure enough, he saw the homeless man walking down the sidewalk that very night. David grabbed the walker and hurried to catch up with him.
The man "Ze Ze", as he called himself, was delighted by the walker. He talked to David for a long time. The next night, he came by David's building to talk to him again. And the next night. And the next.
On Sunday, our pastor talked about our duty to bring the lost into the church so that they can hear the Word preached to them. David leaned over to me and whispered, "I'm going to invite my homeless friend to church next week."
And he did. Ze Ze told David that he would consider it, then later came back and said that he would go to church with him the following Sunday.
That Sunday was today. We attracted a lot of stares, pulling up in our flashy red Mustang to the bench where the one-legged homeless man with a long white beard that would make Santa Claus envious was waiting. We loaded Ze Ze's new walker into the trunk, helped him into the car, then took him to breakfast to kill time until the second service. People in the restaurant stared at us as we talked, but Ze Ze didn't seem to care. He rather seemed to be enjoying himself, and his plate of scrambled eggs. He must be used to people staring, I thought to myself, feeling ashamed for our spectators.
When we walked into the church, people continued to notice Ze Ze, but greeted him with warm friendly smiles and handshakes. David was worried that they might be offended by the way Ze Ze looked and smelled, but if they were, they didn't show it. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as the service began and the music started, guessing that he had been expecting formal hymns instead of contemperary worship songs played by a band. He stood and clapped his hands along with everyone else, and didn't seem uncomfortable.
Pastor gave the altar call at the end of the service, and Ze Ze said the sinner's prayer and invited Jesus into his life.
David leaned over and whispered to me, "I want to buy him a Bible, and some food and clothes."
I nodded, amazed again at how instead of feeling like he had done his part (like I would have), David was asking, "What else can I do, Lord?"
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Ze Ze is no longer homeless. He has a job and a house, and God has blessed him. Those of us who have "grown up" in the church can become so caught up in our background, seniority, theology degrees, etc., that we miss out on what God is wanting to do. We need to follow David's example and keep the calluses off our hearts. We need to train ourselves to think of others more often, and beware of getting used to seeing homeless people on the streets.
Yesterday, I took a picture of an old music box and had a lot of fun creating another blog button. Yeah, the watermark was annoying me. I am too much of a perfectionist, but hey, it helps when your writing books. I know...I'm spending way too much time on this. But as a firm believer in that presentation is everything, I wanted to give it all I've got. :-)
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