Sunshine (of a new kind)

I just got off the Wednesday hamster wheel. It is nearing 9pm and finally I sit stretched on the couch--after being on my feet all day long.

This evening after school D and I joined four other teens, one eager 9-year-old boy and five adults to serve dinner at a men's homeless shelter downtown--Sunshine Ministries. King Ralph has served at the shelter before but for me, it was a new experience. The food was as good as anything you or I would serve our families; roast pork with stuffing, corn and peas and saucy noodles. Seconds were graciously served, followed by a reverent thank you.

Homelessness has a picture, right? Dirty. Smelly. Drunk. Strung out. Maybe a bit crazy. Tonight however, homelessness had a new picture. As I looked around the room that held the 44 men (that is the shelter limit) I wondered; how did you come to be here? You young man, no more than twenty years old, dressed in your Gap like T-shirt and denim pants. Or you man in the very neat, bright melon colored polo shirt and navy pleated shorts, your orthopedic shoes, your strained walk accompanied by a limp and a cane--I wonder are you a veteran of our present war struggling to re-enter life. I wonder about the older man who wore a sweater and stylish reading glasses; you looked like a professor I had in college. We couldn't stop staring at the young man who had an uncanny resemblance to "Alexander Supertramp"/Christopher McCandless (Into the Wilds). When he said he was train hopping we all thought that was mysteriously strange in similarity. Why, why are you all here? Your stories are each so different but unknown to those who serve you a meal.

Then we all toured the shelter. Not a cobweb in sight. Not a dust bunny to be seen. This shelter was cleaner, smelled cleaner than my own house. I was impressed. Everything had such order and discipline I was amazed. The teens rather inquisitive to the working of the oldest homeless shelter in our city asked lots of questions. The questions meant they were connecting with the intended purpose of this service.

Next we shared a chapel service with these men, a service that is mandatory attendance to keep your bed. The older gentleman in the back row was getting it, the “if”, the “why”. For everything the three girls dramatized in their skit he repeated because, he got it or was getting it. They are required to attend chapel not because the world wants to send Bible thumpers into save their bewildered souls. They are exposed to chapel in an effort to express the hope in this world that awaits them.

As we collected song sheets of Amazing Grace an older African-American gentleman neatly dressed with his quite, tender manner came up to us all shook our hands and thanked us. In reality it is us who should thank him--for tonight as I pull my warm covers over myself I will look around and awaken to the gratitude of my blessings.

The sun will shine in a new way for me tomorrow. This person says—God is good. Amen!