Jesus Wept

This evening I was with Stephanie and Grace. After seven days of not seeing each other it was refreshing to spend some time with my two favorite girls. We got some grub at Chili's and then headed over to Highland Lanes for some good ol' fashion fun! An evening that appeared, at first, to be just an evening with the three of us having fun. For the most part it was.

Upon arriving to the bowling ally, a man was standing outside. Most people would ignore him or treat him like dirt and I can't say I wouldn't sometimes too. Not just this man, but many of the homeless folks that we have living in Austin don't get treated like human beings. This is not an easy subject to touch on, so I'm not even going to try to say what is right or wrong or how to fix it because I don't have the answers. I do, however, want to share a little about my experience with this person.

As the three of us are walking towards the door, this man comes up to me. Usually my first reaction is to judge what he says, his demeanor and if how much he's asking for is reasonable to what he claims he needs. Even as a Christian, new or not, it's hard not to have this mentality when there are so many homeless people that will con and lie to get money for something of an addiction rather than a true need. This is probably one of the things I condemn myself for the most. However, this man approached me a little different, as others have, in a way that was completely in my hands. He started out by saying, "Excuse me sir, I'm not going to ask you for money or anything like that." Then he started telling me that he knows the guy at the bar here and that he would like it if I could get him something to eat. This is always easier for me to accept as a real need and I'm more compelled to help with. He continued to explain himself a little and said, "I'm not going to lie to you, I do drink." This may make most people think twice but I already, in my mind, agreed to feed him and I would leave it at that.

Stephanie and Grace saw us talking and had already head inside. As he and I walked in I headed up to the counter with the girls and told him I'd meet him after we got our lane. Stephanie asked what that was about and I told her he was hungry and I was going to buy him some food. So, I got our lane and they went to get setup as I met back up with him.

I walked up to where he was by the bar and he mentioned again that he knew the guy working there which was no concern to me if he did or not. He seemed to be embarrassed and mentioned several times how stupid he is and bad he feels for being stuck in this place in life. I have a hard time knowing what to say in times like this when I want to share the good news with him but always have this feeling that, homeless people either don't believe and get turned off by it because they hear it all the time, or do believe and then I feel like they know more than me so what can I possible say to make a difference. This is where this time was a little different.

After I ordered him a sandwich and introduced ourselves we spoke for a moment before, I said, "I pray that you know Jesus." I thank God that he reacted with such enthusiasm and replied, "I carry the book of John with me all the time! Do you know what the two most important scripture are in the bible?" Stunned at the question I answered, "No, what?" Not only because I didn't know or that it could be debatable considering the amount of scripture and what each one means to different people but, now I was interested in what he could share with me. He said I had to answer at least one of them and then he would give me the other but, I was still stunned and in no state of mind to think about what the most important or even common scriptures were. I should have known one of them but I told him I was a new Christian and couldn't think of what they could be. So he said, "'Jesus wept' and the other is John 3:16, 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.'"

This was an amazing opportunity not only to share what I could with Jamie but that he could share something with me. Even though I've thought about what I could learn from homeless Christians, I've not allowed the time to experience it. Tonight was a good lesson in God's love and our human expectations of others through our own, ungodly, judgments.

I pray for Jamie that he will be provided everything he needs daily. That he will find more hope in Jesus each day and less relief from the things of earth. May we see God's love towards us and return it to those who need it most. Amen.