At today’s meeting we discussed the good Samaritan from Luke 10: 25-37: And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him [Jesus] to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” [Jesus] said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
But he, desiring to justify himself said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.” “Which of these three, do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy,” and Jesus said to him, “You go and do likewise.”
I love this story! Our discussion afterwards was about the Samaritan. The Jews had a distaste for the Samaritans. One would expect the priest to help the man, but he walked by. One would also expect the Levite to help the man as they were given special religious status; however, they both passed by without helping. The Samaritan, who was looked down on, was the one who stopped to help. The discussion turned to how many times we see folks who are not like us, who we view as different, and who we judge based on our own morals, values and opinions – and we ignore them. How many times do we put others in the box of being a “Samaritan,” someone who is not understood or liked, and thus ignore reaching out to them based on “our” judgments about them. If we ran across someone who was like our younger self, we would have judgments towards them. Christ changed us, and Christ can change others. All we are asked to do is love them. We never know where someone is on their path and the working that God is doing in them.
While walking to our car, one of the ladies we have been visiting with every week for the last 10 months parked right next to our cars and wanted to talk with us. She came to us! We were so honored that she came to visit with us in a time of need. I know how hard that must have been for her, and am so thankful that she trusted us enough to come our way! She has been having a very hard time lately. It felt like something has been opening up inside of her and she needs help processing it and moving forward. She has come over in the past to take a shower and has been wanting to wash clothes. Each week I ask her if I can take some of her clothes with me to wash and bring them back to her. Each week, she declines saying that she will come to wash them. Today, when I asked the question, she asked me if I had a bag. She began pulling clothes out of her vehicle and putting them in the bag – and gave me the bag to take home and wash. That was a HUGE amount of trust for her, and we are so thankful that she trusts us to take good care of her possessions. I look forward to seeing her tomorrow and setting aside some time for us to sit and have a conversation.
We left Bojangles to go hand out coffee, Bo-Berry biscuits and bags of food to those in need. We are very thankful for Marvin who meets with us on Saturdays, prays for people in the area each day, and who supplied the coffee and Bo-Berry biscuits today! We barely got the cart of food to the bus stop when folks began coming up to us, recognized us and were very happy to see us! Within 5 minutes, all the bags of food were handed out, along with several cups of coffee and Bo-Berry biscuits! Several different conversations were going on at the same time. People were smiling and laughing. It was so awesome to see! One of my favorite comments was about the turkey sandwiches we hand out. They get the most comments. One of the men commented on how good it tasted and asked if it was homemade. One of my good friends, Carly, came with us today and made the sandwiches for everyone. Many of the items in the bag are store bought – fruit, soup, chips, water, and flavored electrolytes – but the sandwiches are homemade with love – and it’s the love they can feel when they eat it! That so warms my heart! Who knew that spreading mayonnaise and mustard over 2 pieces of soft bread, piled with turkey, lettuce and tomato, and wrapped with saran wrap, could put such an amazing smile on the face of folks who eat it!
Another car pulled up with a group from a local church and handed out homemade meals and cash. It was like Christmas morning! It was so nice to see folks of all different backgrounds hanging out together, talking with one another and loving each other! In the 20 – 30 minutes we were there, we were all neighbors, with everyone loving each other as they love themselves! It was the passage from Luke we discussed earlier, in action. It was so awesome to be there and witness all that was taking place!
We went to visit another meeting place that has been torn down and cleaned up by the city. The past few weeks, no one has been there. As we were riding by, we saw two of the men walking towards us. They saw our cars and walked over to talk to us. We had a great conversation over Bo-Berry biscuits! One of the guys was brainstorming how to work in an area that he is very passionate around and has lots of experience with – working on semi-trailers. He was offered a job, and was very excited, but could not figure out, logistically, how to make it work. He said the bus stop is two miles away from the job site. He lives in the woods and does not have access to a shower. After working on the trucks all day, he said he is covered in dirt and needs a shower, but has no where to take one. They work long days and it would be hard to walk back to the bus stop covered in all the dirt and then have to go back to his camp and sleep without a shower. These are some of the barriers to work that I would have never thought about.
The other man just lost his girlfriend two weeks ago. She was such a wonderful person who lived in the camp with them and struggled with cirrhosis of the liver. He is still grieving the loss of her. He updated us that he may be going to Texas to work for awhile. Someone has offered him work and a ride there.
Before we left, I reached out to a guy we met at Bojangles before we left. Our paths have crossed in the past. He is a young guy – perhaps in his late 20’s/early 30’s. The last time we spoke to him, he was looking for a church and missed working out with guys in his F3 group. He has been in and out of homelessness and is currently living on the streets. We offered him coffee, a Bo-Berry biscuit and one of the lunch bags. He said he would really like some toiletries and asked us if we had any. We met him afterwards at one of the local stores and let him pick out the items he needed. My husband works out with some of the F3 groups and I asked him the first time we met W, if he or some of the guys would pick him up for the workouts. I relayed this to W and he got a big smile! I asked him if he would like to go with me to church tomorrow to meet some of the guys who are in F3 groups. He told me about the church he used to attend, and shared that he is nervous about working out with the guys, due to his living conditions and that he is not in the shape he used to be in. He did say it would be good to have a group of guys to talk to and just the thought of it lifted his spirits!
We had a GREAT day today at the outreach, reconnected with several friends and met many new friends! We are looking forward to next week – the first week in the new year!