This is a story about the time that I shook hands with a gangster, and shook hands with a homeless man.
On October 19th my church youth group went to downtown Seattle to serve homeless people. We did a program called "Mamas hands". We got on the bus in Bellevue and drove down to Seattle. Once I was out of the bus, I looked around. Someone had put sweaters on all the trees, there were people laying on the ground with blankets, there were some tents. I was so sad to see people lying on the ground with only blankets, that I almost cried.
We were greeted by many homeless people standing all around. Then we saw a tall black man, who said to us happily, "All you white people put your hands in the air." We put our hands in the air. Then he said "If you love Jesus say 'oh"." There was a loud chorus of ohhh's coming from the youth and leaders. I was impressed that even though he was homeless he was trying to have a good attitude for us.
Some of the youth and leaders helped pass out hamburgers and scarfs. I had brought along with me a couple scarfs that I had knit, and I was standing there not sure what to do. One of my leaders suggested that my friends and I pass out scarfs.
I took my scarfs and we started walking. I handed a few scarfs out and then we saw the tall black man that had greeted us previously. He was sitting on a bench hunched over. He looked up at us and asked "How y'all doing?"
I stupidly replied "Good. How are you?"
"I'm not doing too good."
"Oh I'm sorry whys that?"
"Do you know what it's like to have nothing? You wanta see my apartment?"
Confused I reply "sure"
"These are my apartment" he replied as he pointed to his white tennis shoes.
Now by this point, I was practically bawling, he noticed and asked, "Why are you crying?"
My friend responds for me as I'm crying to hard to speak "Cause she's never seen this before, she's homeschooled. She's never really heard someone swear in public before."
He laughed, "You've never heard anybody say S***" Looks at sky "G** D***, I'm just kidding"
I smiled through my tears.
He pulled a small book out of his pocket, "Let me tell you something about the Bible...You gotta keep it close to you." He then pulled off his hat to reveal a nearly bald head: "I bet you all don't care how many hairs I got on my head... I betcha God cares!"
Now I was bawling again. He stood up, and like the naive child I am, I hugged him and cried into his shirt. After I pulled away, one of my friends hugged me and I cried into HER shirt. Needless to say, I soiled a lot of shirts that day.
Some where in the conversation one of the girls came over and interrupted the man. "Would you like a scarf?"
"We're kind of in a conversation right now," he said, slightly annoyed. After I had calmed down a bit, I looked up and he was gone. My friend said that he left cause we were all crying. I looked over and I saw him on the curb. It looked like he was crying too.
I headed back to where they were serving burgers. I saw a little dog curled up on a blanket wtih garbage lying around him. I heard a couple homeless men arguing. One was yelling and the other was trying to calm him. "I don't need them crying for me! That doesn't help me!"
I realized that I was extremely fortunate that the man I had visited with earlier was so caring. I told one of my leaders about the man I had talked to earlier. She suggested that I ask him if he would like to contact his family. (Cell phones had been provided for the homeless people to contact their families). So I walked over to him and noticed that he was eating a burger. I started a new conversation with him by asking him if he was enjoying his burger. He smiled. I remembered that I only had one scarf left, and I felt bad because it was a skimpy little blue and white thing. I asked him, anyway, "Can I give you a scarf?" Gratefully, he took it and put it around his neck replying that he would give it to his niece. Cue me crying. Again.
A couple of the youth came over to join us. I was still sobbing and the man said, "She's gonna make me cry. . .so what's new with you guys?" One of the guys talked about skateboarding. Then the man asked, "Do you any of you sing?" One of my friends looked at me and started singing
Hallelujah. She wanted me to join in, but I was afraid I would mess up on the lyrics. After she sang, a couple of the youth left. The man looked directly at me, "Do you sing?"
I nodded.
"Can you sing without crying?"
I told him I would try and asked what song I should sing. He suggested
Amazing Grace. So I sang part of it for him. When I was done, he noticed his nephew near by. I asked if I could meet him.
We walked over to where his nephew was, a couple yards away. As we were walking the man mentioned that his nephew is a gangster. He called to his nephew, "Some white kids wanna meet you." We shook his hand and he asked how we're doing. The homeless man told us he needed to go get his money. So we started walking away. He nudged my shoulder and as I looked back he called out, "I love you.
I called back, "I love you too" and start bawling. Again.
We walked back to where they were serving burgers. The leaders quickly ushered us back on the bus. We wanted to stay, but they said, "No, get on the bus." There was something about two drunk homeless people that I didn't quite understand as I was rushed onto the bus.
You may think I am really stupid for hugging a homeless man that I've never met, but at the moment the thought of him hurting me in any way never ever crossed my mind. I could see the Light of Christ in him and I knew he wouldn't hurt me.
I don't even know his name. But he changed my life!
Except it would say something like "You spread the word about my blog... I am eternally grateful."
Haha just kiding(:
