Homeless...at 5!

Tonight I met a young man who is five-years old.  John (not his real name) looks very much like most of the five-year old boys I know.  He had short blond hair and a clean-scrubbed face and wore a pair of khaki pants and a little white Polo shirt.  The big difference between John and most of the five-year olds that I know and you know, is that John is homeless. 

Tonight, I had the blessing of working at Church Under the Bridge, in downtown San Antonio.  Church Under the Bridge is a ministry of a group of local churches, to the homeless population in central San Antonio.  We have the opportunity to serve these precious ones with a meal and a smile and most importantly with an opportunity to hear the Gospel.  In addition, we get to show them the love of Christ and the fact that they are not nameless and faceless, but that they matter.  For years, I confess that homeless people made me uncomfortable and my main objective was to walk past them with as little interaction as possible!  If you are honest, that probably describes most of you reading this blog too.  You see, I wanted to pretend that everyone looked and smelled like me and the people I sat next to in a pew on Sunday's.  Over the past four years God has been working in my life to show me that not only does He love the unlovable people, but He expects me to love them too and to show that love in a tangible way.  Oh, and He has been teaching me that sometimes, I am one of those unlovable people!

In the course of serving the meal tonight, God brought me face-to-face with "one of those homeless, unlovable ones."  The only problem was that he was five-years old and he reminded me more of my grandsons than he did a homeless person!  Just like my grandsons, he was a little quiet at first, but eventually was smiling and telling me that he was "doing real good" in school.  I also learned that he liked chocolate cake.  He showed me his backpack that contained not only his "school stuff", but also everything he owned!  I learned that he used to have a dog and that he had his own bed.  I learned that he did not know who his daddy was, but his mommy was really nice and took care of him and that she used to work for General Motors but lost her job and they moved to San Antonio.  I learned that he and his mom had been turned away from 5 homeless shelters tonight...I guess homeless people don't like being out in the rain anymore than you or me.  You see, tonight, I saw the face of homelessness and he smiled at me with chocolate icing on his face!  After that, I could see the face of the man who had a lame arm, the Army veteran with PTSD who continues to remember the ones he left behind in Iraq, the young pregnant teenager whose parents threw her out of the house or any number of the precious "unlovable souls" who blessed me by letting me see God do a great work in that place.

And if you don't realize it, it wasn't what I saw God do in the lives of these homeless ones tonight.  It was what He did in my life and the way that He showed me what they look like to Him!

Oh God, let me see things as You see them!  Let the things that bring you joy, bring me joy and let the things that break your heart, break mine too, Father.  In the name of the One who saw my unlovableness and still died for me, Amen!

I Wish You Had Known Him!

Dearest Princess Caroline,
It is so hard for your Papaw to believe that you are now six months old!  I hope you know how much we all love you.  I know your Mommy and Daddy feel so blessed to have you as part of their family.  I also know that your big brothers love you...even when they lick you!  By the way, what's up with that?!?  And, of course, Mimi thinks you are the best little girl ever.  I hope you also know that Papaw would probably do anything you wanted him to!  However, there is someone I want to tell you about that you don't know...your Papaw G.C.

You see, Caroline, your Papaw G.C. died about six months before you were born.  He was your Mommy's Papaw and your Papaw's Daddy.  I know that sounds kind of confusing for a little girl, but it will not be long before you understand it.  In fact, I'll bet that Mark Garrett can tell you something about Papaw G.C.  I wanted to tell you somethings about your Papaw G.C.  First, he was a man who loved Jesus and he loved his family.  When I was little, I always knew he loved me very much.  The way I knew that was because he spent time teaching all the things that he thought I should know.  He taught me that Sundays were the days we spent worshiping God.  He taught me how to hunt and fish and how to work hard and enjoy it.  He also taught me that a man should love his family more than himself.  He taught me that having fun was important too!

When your Mommy was born, I got to see how he would do as her Papaw!  In my eyes, he had pretty big shoes to fill...those of my Papaw!  And as Mark Garrett would say, "My Papaw was amazing!"  When you are a little bigger, I will tell you about my Papaw!  I think your Mommy would tell you that Papaw G.C. was a pretty amazing Papaw for her and Uncle Mark.  If Papaw G.C. were here, I am sure he would tell you the "Tomato Rabbit Story!"  You'll have to hear that one from your Mommy!  He would tell you about growing up in a small town in Texas.  He might also tell you about a very cold place in another part of the world, called the Chosin Reservoir, a place where he served his country and didn't think he did anything special...but I did!  You see, Caroline not only was he my Daddy, he was my hero too!  And I really miss him a lot.  I would always call him and tell him about the things that your brothers were doing and saying and I would sure have called him to tell him about you.  When I told him about your brothers, he would always laugh and say, "Those little hammerheads!"  But, I know he would not call you a hammerhead!

I really wish you had known Papaw G.C.!  However, I know that one day in the future, you will get to meet him, just like I will see him again!  On that day, he will want to hear all about you and I am sure he will tell you the story of the "Tomato Rabbit!"  I love you Caroline!

Papaw