Full Circle

As he walks out his door in the morning and heads off to his job he notices…

He notices the young boy standing at the bus stop with his head down, slowly kicking a rock back and forth between his feet, hands in his pockets, shoulders slouched forward as if they bore the weight of a thousand worlds. He doesn’t know this child, has never spoken to him nor does he even know where he lives. But he feels a sadness for the boy because he remembers how it was to be 10 years old. He remembers how painful words can be. He remembers how his stomach would turn to stone from the anxiety induced by the impending math test that day. He remembers the embarrassment of the girl he tried to talk to who laughed at him and told him he was too poor to talk to her. He remembers these things and all the angst it caused.

But he looks at where he is now, and he is happy.

He stops at a small service station to fill up the tank in his car and he notices…

He notices the middle aged woman in the beat up, rusty car. He notices her clothes are old and worn. He sees the look of tired resignation in her face that says “this is my lot in life”. She looks at him and quickly looks away when she notices him noticing her, clearly embarrassed by his attention. He’s dressed in office attire and drives a classy car. ” How could a man like him ever be interested in a woman like me?” she thinks, “all used up and definitely nowhere near pretty enough for a businessman.” She quickly gets into her car and turns her face away from him as she drives away.

But he remembers how a woman just like her loved him and gave him the life he now has, and he is happy

He arrives at his office and goes about his day and throughout the day he hears various coworkers complain about how much they dread getting up to go to work in the morning. He hears them lament Mondays and yearn for the weekend and he remembers. He remembers how he used to feel the same way. Worn down, exhausted and defeated. Stuck in an endless, mundane loop doing the same thing over and over and over, day in, day out. He remembers the fantasy of winning the lottery and telling his superiors to take their sub par pay and boring job and shove it! 

But he looks at where he is now and how patience and learning got him where he is, and he is happy.

As he finishes his day and starts the drive home he notices. 

He notices a man in tattered clothes standing on the corner of the street holding a sign that says “Homeless, please help”. He notices his gaunt appearance that testifies to the fact that he has not had a decent meal in weeks. He notices his hair that is long and unkempt under a dirty, knitted hat and he remembers. He remembers how he himself was once homeless with no job, no home, not even a car to sleep in. He remembers how the kindness of someone who hardly knew him had compassion on him. He remembers how they gave him shelter and food and showed him the love of Christ even though he was unsightly and unlovely. 

As he arrives home he remembers all the people he saw in their suffering and he remembers his own but he looks at where is now and he is happy.

The next morning he left for work early and parked a few blocks away from the young boy at the bus stop. He notices his father sitting in a wheelchair in the doorway of a small dilapidated home. He waits for the boy to board the school bus. When the boy is gone he approaches the home and knocks on the door. The man in the wheelchair sees his nice car and nice suit and greets him suspiciously. “Yes?” He says guardedly. “Good morning sir, please pardon my unannounced visit but I have something I want to give your son. I just feel it’s something I must do.” He reaches into his overcoat and pulls out $500 and hands it to the man in the wheelchair. His eyes widen I shock! 

“What? Why?”

Smiling, the man in the overcoat says, ” I noticed his shoes looked a bit small and uncomfortable and his backpack has a tare in the seam. I felt that perhaps he would enjoy some new clothes and maybe some toy or game to entertain him in his free time as well. The eyes of the man in the wheelchair glistened with held back tears. ” I don’t understand.” he says. The man in the overcoat reaches into his other pocket and pulls out $1000 and hands it to the other man saying, “and this is for you. I feel that you could use something to brighten your day as well. The man in the wheelchair began to weep openly. “Sir,” he says, “we were in an automobile accident a year ago. I lost a leg but my sweet wife lost her life and my son lost his mom.” I was a carpenter but because of my injuries I’ve not been able to work. I sold everything I had and bought this place because I knew I would no longer be able to afford the mortgage on our last home. Disability insurance barely pays the utilities here. With your gift I will be able to take a course that will allow me to get a drafting certificate and continue to work in the field I love! And Samuel will not get made fun of for his clothes” 

The man in the overcoat drives on. He stops at the service station again hoping to see the woman from the day before but he does not. Every day after he continues to stop just knowing in his heart that she will show up one day. Finally she does! He parks on the opposite side of the service station so as not to alarm her. He waits for her to enter the store then he quickly walks up to her car and slips an envelope into the slightly cracked window. It drops onto her seat. He smiles to himself, and quickly walks back to his car.

She exits the building and returns to her car empty handed looking very upset. He could tell she was fighting back tears. She opens her door and sees the envelope laying on her seat. She looks around suspiciously as she slowly picks it up and opens it. Inside is $1000 and a letter that says. “You do not know me nor do I know you, but I’ve seen you here many times. You’ve also seen me but we’ve never met or spoken. I can tell that life and humankind have not always been kind to you but I want you to know that you are not unlovely or unlovable. There is a beauty inside of you that is desperately wanting to shine so I want you to take this and treat yourself well. Buy something nice, go dancing with some friends and smile. I’m sure you have a beautiful smile. Be lovely and love will find you. Perhaps that will be the day we meet again. “

He could see tears running down her face as she stood there with her hand over her mouth in shock. She held the letter to her lips and looked to the sky as if sending a kiss and a thank you to heaven. She folded the letter and tucked it safely into her purse as she hurried back into the store. He watched her pull some money from the envelope and place it on the counter then hurried back to her car and began to fill her tank with gas. His heart nearly exploded with joy as it dawned on him that the reason she looked so upset was because she had tried to purchase gasoline but discovered she apparently had no money on her bank card.

The next morning he got up early and drove down to a local bakery where he purchased dozens of boxes of sugary delights. He then drove to his office and quietly slipped in before anyone else arrived. He went to the various offices in the building dropping off the sweet treats with just a note that said “enjoy!” Then just as quickly he slipped out only to return at his normal time and watch his co-workers smiling, talking and wondering who had made the special delivery. He remembered and he was happy. 

On his way home that evening, as fate would have it he encountered the homeless man on the corner. He parked his car in a lot not too far from the beggar and walked over to him. The bedraggled man looked at him with a strange mixture of fear and expectation.

“Good day sir, do you have a moment to talk?” 

The man on the street stood silently for a moment as if judging what to say, is if saying the wrong thing would bring him to sudden calamity. 

“Well I don’t suppose I got anything else to do so, ok.”

The man in the overcoat smiled and said “great! Because I think I have something that will help you. There’s a small restaurant right here, can I buy you something to eat while we talk?” The homeless man nodes and they walked to the dinner together. They take a table in the corner where it’s quiet. When the waitress approaches he tells his new friend to order anything he’d like. 

After their orders are placed he says to the homeless man, “Tell me about yourself. What’s your story? What hand has life dealt you that has brought you to this point?”

The homeless man looked him in the eye for a moment as if he was letting the question register, like he didn’t fully grasp what he was being asked but the compression flickered in his eyes and he looked down at the table then out the window as if he was looking far back into his past. “Well,” he began slowly “Stupidity really. When I was a teen I started using cocaine. Not much at first. But it started from hanging out with the wrong people, trying to fit in and belong somewhere.” 

He went on to tell how he’d work as a teen just to support his habit but soon the addiction became more important than working to support it. He’d miss work because he was too stoned to show up and got fired. He started stealing to support the addiction after that. He talked about how he’d come home late at night to hear his parents paying for him. He talked about how it broke his heart to hear his mother’s words to God for him as she begged God to set her son free but the addiction was so strong that he just couldn’t get free. Finally after six years of being locked in the evil claws of cocaine, the stealing caught up with him. He was arrested and sent to prison for five years. 

He talked about how horribly painful withdrawal was in prison. He talked about how lonely he was there. He talked about how he’d talk to God and beg for forgiveness. “Ya know,” said “I’ve been out for 2 years now and the one thing that keeps me from looking for cocaine again is remembering the agony I went through. The pleasure of the drug is not worth the price I paid. Now I’m out and clean but who’s going to hire a man that has killed too many brain cells with drugs and has a criminal record?”

The food arrived and the homeless man ate with gusto and vigor. As they finished their meal the man in the overcoat asked him, “if you could do anything, what would you want to do with your life?” Without hesitation the homeless man said, “I’d go back to school to learn computer programming and then I’d really like to become a minister. I know I’m not perfect but God loves me anyway. If I could just get a job to keep myself off the street I know I could help so many others avoid the pit I fell in.”

The man in the overcoat smiled. “Will you come somewhere with me? I have something I think you could use.” The homeless man agreed and they left together. They drove to a small, quiet neighborhood populated with small houses. A few blocks in they stopped in front of a small one bedroom house with a sign in the yard that said “FOR RENT”. The man in the overcoat pointed to the home and said, ” what do you think? You like it?” The other man looked at the house then back at his companion in confusion. “Well yeah… but, man I’ve got no job and holding a sign isn’t exactly bringing in much rent money.”

The man in the overcoat smiled “let’s go up and take a look” he said. As they strolled up to the house he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key and an envelope. “This key is for that house and this envelope is how you can pay for it. It’s a full scholarship for the local community college. Any course you’d like to take. The only payment required is that you follow your dream. You can live here rent free until you land your first job.”

The homeless man broke into tears. He couldn’t even find words and any words he could think of were not able to make it to his lips. He threw his arms around the man in the overcoat and sobbed. 

As the man in the overcoat drove home that evening, he remembers. As he walked into his home, he remembers. As he walked into his study, he remembers. He stopped to look at a framed certificate on his study wall that reads…

    “The board of governance with the authority of the state and upon the recommendation of the facility have conferred upon JERALD EVERETT CREST a degree of master of computer science with all the rights, honors and responsibilities…”

He remembers and he is happy.

For if you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it on to me.

Two Spirit Life – February 18/2020