George Is Sleeping In the Rain

For the past year or so, the Lord has been giving me a heart for the local homeless people in the town where I live, Redlands, CA. One night after one of my wife's typically wonderful home-cooked meals, we were cleaning up the kitchen and there was A LOT of food left over. I can't even remember what it was. I just remember watching her getting ready to dump the remainder of the dish into the garbage disposal and I just instinctively said, "Wait." I took the rest of the food from her before she threw it out...enough for a couple of people...and put it in an old tupperware dish with a few pieces of bread. We had some salad left over too, so I poured that into a big, plastic baggie and sealed it up. I scrounged up a few paper plates, plastic forks and knives, napkins and two diet sodas from the fridge in the garage and put it all in a big, brown paper bag. "I'll be back." I got in my car and just started driving...and praying. I felt guilty for how much food we waste when I KNOW there are people in town that are going hungry. I thanked the Lord for all the blessings he has given me...a beautiful wife, four wonderful daughters, a great home in a great neighborhood and great friends and a great church...and great home-cooked food. Then I prayed that he would lead me to the person or persons that needed this food the most. I remember driving around for ten or fifteen minutes until I found a homeless couple, Rick and Katie, sitting on a bus bench in the dark next to their grocery cart that held all of their earthly belongings. I introduced myself, gave them the food and drove home with tears streaming down my face. That was the beginning of a kind of ritual for me - feeding the homeless and hungry in my town.

I remember constructing a massive plate (a small feast, really) of leftovers this past Thanksgiving when we were in Fresno visiting my wife's family. I slipped out without anyone noticing and went for a drive into town, praying that the Lord would lead me to someone who was really in need and would be blessed by a big plate of food. That's when I met Ernie. He was talking on a pay phone when I pulled up next to him. He was standing up next to his wheel chair which was stacked with his stuff (a blanket, a Bible, a jug of water, and a hammer - more on this later). He was obviously crippled in some way - his legs and feet were deformed with some kind of birth defect and he had trouble standing, much less walking. His clothes were dirty and worn out. His boots were especially worn out. His long, black and gray hair pulled back in a pony tail. He turned to look at me when I pulled up and I asked him if he could use some food. He immediately burst into tears and I heard him tell the person on the other end of the phone, "Praise God, Maria! God just sent a man to me and he has a whole bunch of food! He did it! He did it! Praise Jesus!"

Ernie hung up the phone and told me that was his wife he was speaking to and he had been praying with her on the phone that God would send someone to help them. He had been begging for change all day long there at the corner and didn't have much to show for it. I asked him where he lived and he said out in Clovis.

"Clovis? That's like four or five miles away. Is she coming to pick you up?" I asked.
"No, I was just getting ready to start walking home. I do it every day."

So this crippled man had been pushing his wheelchair with his stuff in it, four miles each way, every week day to beg for change at one of Fresno's busiest intersections. That was how he made his money. My heart broke.

So I helped Ernie pile his stuff and his wheelchair into the back of my Suburban and I gave him a lift - four point three miles - to his home, a small little two bedroom house, in Clovis. He had been drinking and smelled pretty strongly of beer which he apologized for. "I know I drink too much sometimes. I used to do heroin and pills, but Jesus helped me kick that. But I still drink too much. I'm praying God will help me with that too." And in that moment, I completely understood why Ernie would want to drink too much and I didn't blame him. Who WOULDN'T want to numb the pain of hobbling four plus miles, pushing a wheelchair to his spot there on Blackstone Ave. every day to beg? I told Ernie that if I was in his position, I would probably be drinking too and that I thought he was a brave man.

When we arrived, his wife and teenage son came out to greet us and to thank me for bringing him home and for the small Thanksgiving feast I had brought. I prayed with them and we all shed tears together there in their driveway. What a Thanksgiving miracle to be a part of!

So tonight, here in Redlands, its raining pretty hard and its about 45 degrees outside. My wife cooked this great new recipe...pork chops with Hoisin sauce over a bed of angel hair pasta - delicious! And we had leftovers. Tonight the Lord led me to George who was already lying down in his makeshift camp by the railroad tracks downtown. He had constructed a kind of tent out of an old tarp and some sheets of clear plastic. He looked like he was hunkered down to weather out the storm. So while I'm sure George will enjoy the pork chops as much or more than I did, I'm not so sure he's going to sleep well. It will be a long, cold, wet night for him. My two youngest daughters and I will pray for him when I tuck them in and he will probably be the last thing on my mind as I drift off to sleep tonight...in my warm, dry bed...that I am so thankful for, but do not deserve.

Now I'm not writing this because I want to draw attention to myself or my good deed. On the contrary, I want to bring attention to our homeless friends. None of us has to look very hard around our town to find them. Maybe I can encourage someone reading this to start their own practice of saving some leftovers and putting together a meal for them. Maybe someone reading this will help another human being and be part of the miracle of compassion. That is what I hope. And I hope you'll say a prayer for Rick and Katie, and Ernie and Maria...and George...sleeping in the rain tonight. God bless them every one.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40