Saturday night I got word that I would be picking up kids from Comanche Park, Turley and almost to Sperry. So I headed out and made three trips up north to get everyone to church on time. Then I headed east and picked up four more folks. But, on the way to church I saw one of my guys sitting at a bus stop. It was pretty chilly outside and he only had on scrub pants and a jacket; his rollator was nowhere around. So I dropped off the four and headed back to the bus stop.
I pulled into the parking lot and walked over to Sauerkraut. He was shivering, he has cataracts that continue to crust his eyes and he wasn’t sure who I was initially. He said he had been in the hospital for the past few days. The hospital put him in a cab, “And I don’t got nowhere to go so I told them to drop me here;” which was about 4 hours earlier.
He was fretting because he didn’t have his walker and his routine was drastically messed up which heightened his anxiety and he had soiled himself. I helped him into the van and he kept repeating, “It’s warm. It’s warm,” and I drove over to the Wall where he usually hangs out and there was his rollator. I loaded it in the van and looked at him. Dear Jesus where was I going to take him?
Then he said, “Coffee, coffee, can I have some coffee?” I drove to McDonald’s and got him a breakfast and a large coffee, praying all along for a safe place to take him. When I climbed into the van I handed him the coffee and the bag. “Can you take me to my sisters?” He said he didn’t have an address but he could describe where we needed to go. So I headed out trying to remember where the street was he was talking about. We found it and he described an incline on the right side of the street. I stopped and saw a big dog barking on the porch as I got out of the van. I pondered going to Heaven in pieces if this dog decided to attack…
I reminded Jesus I was being obedient, even unto death if the dog didn’t get me, his sister might shoot me showing up with Sauerkraut, a brother she was trying to forget. I uttered one last psalm, walked past the dog and started pounding on the door. After a few bangs I heard movement. The door opened and a rotund half-asleep man was standing there rubbing his head, “Yeah?” I asked if Sauerkraut’s sister lived there and told him Sauerkraut was in the van. The man rolled his eyes and said, “Is he drunk?” I told him he was sober and just got out of the hospital; could he come in?
The man slammed the door and then a few moments later he opened it and I saw a woman in the back. I recognized her and smiled. She shook her head and said, “Let him in.” I got him out of the van and led him to the front door and gave him his rollator and breakfast. He kept thanking me and the man kept giving me dirty looks.
I looked at my watch and headed back to church. As I walked in I heard our campus pastor say, “If the counselors will come forward…” I threw my coat down and said ‘hi’ to the folks I brought to church and headed up front. As we walked out of the sanctuary, I noticed only a few folks came forward and there were a number of counselors. I started walking past the library and a man said, “We need another female counselor.” I made a sharp right hand turn and sat down with a young woman.
She said she wanted to be baptized. But, when I asked her when she asked Jesus into her heart she just looked at me. So I shared with her about Jesus and how He changed my life, well the Reader’s Digest version. She said she wanted Jesus to be real to her too. So, we prayed and she asked Jesus into her heart!!!! Jesus timing is perfect!
A close friend of my sister and brother-in-law hit his head and had a brain bleed and almost died, a good friend and a board member had quadruple bypass surgery, a 13 year old Autistic boy was by a canister when it exploded and he has 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 50% of his body and a woman who was blind until she was finally blessed with surgery just found out she has cancer and surgery is in a week - all of this in the past month.
Life is fleeting and overwhelming at times. Last Tuesday we studied Luke 10:25-37. This is the parable of the Good Samaritan. A priest and a Levite crossed the street to avoid helping a man who had been brutally beaten and robbed.
When was the last time you did this, you saw a need and crossed the street to get away from helping? No time. Don’t wanna get involved. Somebody else will help…
The Samaritan (an outcast - think of him as an addict, alcoholic, mentally ill, homeless man) stopped immediately (he didn’t try to rationalize his way out of helping) and gave aid. His heart was hurt as, “He took pity on him.”
So, how many of us would have just written a check to take care of the wounded man in order to avoid dealing with the drama? How many of us would have bandaged his wounds and said, “Okay there you go, take care?” and walked off. Or would you have gone “all in” and done exactly as the Samaritan? Going above and beyond “just enough.”
We live in a world where we do just enough to get by. As believers Jesus calls us to go the extra mile to serve and sacrifice because it’s not about us, it’s about Him and our relationship with Him. We need to ask God to soften our hearts, to give us empathy and allow us to love “them” enough to become “us.” We need to stop and weep over the lost and then get up and do something.
Isaiah 58, In His Service is at 3734 E. Admiral Place. We’re there every Saturday
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