A few days ago, I dropped off my daughter at a restaurant to have dinner with some friends. As I left the parking lot, I noticed a very tall, hunched over man carrying a plastic jug of OJ (or something) as he walked down the street. He was dirty and looked homeless.
I wondered about his story. Was he ever loved? Did he have parents that cared - ever? Where is he going? Where does he sleep at night?
The next day, I was driving to bible study, and I saw him again - same busy road. This time going a different route. During the study, we talked about the term, F.T.T. Failure To Thrive - the subject is part of John Ortberg's book, The Me I Want to Be. He describes it as languishing - the condition of someone who may be able to function but has lost a sense of hope and meaning.
As we discussed the term at our table, this "homeless" guy came to my mind, and I mentioned him and how he is looks to have F.T.T. As we continued to talk, my mind wandered from the conversation and back to him, and then I remember a ziplock bag in my car that had toiletries. It was put together at Vacation Bible School by my son. He was to give it to a homeless person, and it is still in my car. Oh, I could give it to him! And then I thought, I'll put a $5 bill in the bag, and then I thought that I should get a gift card to McDonald's instead.
While I am having these random thoughts and not speaking them aloud, the woman next to me hands me a McDonald's gift card. She told me to give it to him. Are you kidding me? She had no idea I was having those thoughts! She just said that someone had given it to her to give to homeless person and that she just hadn't given this one away.
So now as I travel around Atlanta, I am watching for him. One bag of toiletries and one gift card will not fully restore his sense of meaning and hope, but maybe it will give him an ounce of hope to get through another day.
Question to Ponder: Who around you is F.T.T.? How might you be able to give them hope for another day?
UPDATE: A few days after I posted this, my husband and I went out for a breakfast - that is a rare thing for us to do! As we left the restaurant's parking lot, we saw the guy walking down the other side of the street. We turned the car around, so that we could get close enough to hand him the bag. He asked us something like - you got any money? And I said, "No, but I do have a gift card so that you can have lunch at McDonalds." He came, got the bag and smiled. My husband said, "God Bless You." And down the road he walked. Now I know my small offering will not change his life, but maybe this was about God changing my life and my heart.
UPDATE JAN 2011: About a month ago, I had dropped my son off at the church gym for basketball and as I sat in my car, my homeless friend passed in front of my car headlights. He had a nasty, old blanket covering his head, and he was just walking down the street. He is a very tall guy, so I was sure it was him. As the days went by, I continued to get a visual of him in my head.
As Christmas approached, my family and I were doing a Jesse Tree devotional, and it said something like how could you help God bless someone today. And the homeless man again crossed my mind. So I asked my family of ideas of what we could do for him. My 11 year old son, William, said, "Mom, why don't you make him a fleece blanket like you made us?"
I had made them the "no sew" fleece blankets for Christmas a couple of years, and they have used them almost daily since then. I decided William's idea was perfect. So I went to the fabric store and purchased a camoflauge & brown fleece. I thought it might camoflauge the dirt overtime.
So on Sunday, we knew we might see him coming or going down Roswell Road. We were looking everywhere for him. He was no where to be found. We went to church and had several things to do before we could leave, so we were later leaving then usual. We road the bus back to the parking lot to get our car. As soon as we got off the bus, he was DIRECTLY across the street.
We all raced to the car and jumped in. My husband quickly drove out and went into a parking lot across the street. so that he would pass us by as he was walking. I rolled down the window and told him that we had a Christmas present for him. We had included the blanket, new hat, gloves and a little money. He said, "God bless you."
God bless me? I don't know why him saying that to me was such a shock. He believes in God even though he lives on the street and has virtually nothing. That is hard for me to take in.
The past few weeks, I have been watching for him and seen him several times. I just was hoping to see him carrying or wearing my blanket around, but I have seen no sign of it. I have seen him with a sleeping bag and other Christmas bags near his outdoor shelter. I have seen apple sauce and canned goods that others must have dropped off to him. So cool to see that others are giving to him as well.
As I discussed this with my husband, he said that it was ok that I haven't seen the blanket. I just need to remember that I following through on what God prompted me to do through my son, and that is all that is He is asking of me.
