In June, I
had the opportunity to chaperone a high school mission trip. We spent a week in Washington D.C. serving
others in many different contexts. The
week was filled with highs and lows. I
have many memories from this trip, but there is one, in particular, that I want
to remember.
On Thursday
my group had the opportunity to participate in an experience called Urban
Plunge. For an afternoon, we were sent
out to an area of the city (Chinatown) with a list of activities to complete
and information to find. All of the
activities and information we gathered were supposed to help us learn about the
lifestyle of the homeless. Some of the
tasks were as simple as noticing our environment and the people around us. Others, such as buying dinner for our whole
group and another person with only two dollars per person, seemed a little more
difficult.
This
experience stretched me because the adults were supposed to step back and let
the kids take charge and make the decisions about how we would accomplish our
tasks. It was really difficult to not
share all of the things I was noticing with the whole group as we walked the
streets of Chinatown, but it was a blessing to see the students step up and
take charge! We spent the first part of
our time trying to find a particular ministry in the area that ministers to homeless
people. We never did find the ministry,
but as we searched, our students discovered churches that minster to the
homeless. We also had a conversation with a man who was traveling through D.C.
trying to get back to his home. As we
walked the streets of Chinatown, one of our main priorities was buying dinner
for eleven people with only twenty dollars and finding a homeless person with
whom to share our dinner. As we walked,
we discovered a public library and its uses for homeless people (shelter, bathrooms,
water fountain, computers and newspapers to look for jobs, entertainment). We left the library and headed to find a
McDonalds to buy our dinner. There were
many homeless people outside of the library, but we knew we didn't have enough
money to feed all of them, so we chose not to ask any of them to share our
dinner. As we walked on down the
sidewalk, there was a homeless man sitting by a building at the corner down
from the library. As we walked by, he
said he would take a hand-out of money or he would eat our left overs if we
brought them to him. We told him that we
might be back to see him later. At that
point, I think we all knew that we had found our friend with whom to share our
dinner! For me, it was his willingness
and resourcefulness to mention taking left overs that told me he was the right
person with whom to share dinner.
We spent a
bit of our time deciding what to get at McDonalds to make our money stretch as
far as possible. Our students were so
generous and took less food so that they could buy our friend a meal instead of
just a sandwich. God provided in unexpected
ways! The McDonalds was running a buy
one get one free deal on Big Macs that ended that day. This deal allowed us to buy two sandwiches
instead of one! We left McDonalds with hamburgers for everyone in our group,
two Big Macs, French fries, and a drink. As we walked back to the corner down
from the library, we saw that our friend had another friend sitting next to
him. It might have been awkward, but God
had already provided! We introduced
ourselves and explained that we wanted to eat dinner with them. We learned that our original friend’s name is
Tony and his friend’s name is George. We
passed out our sandwiches and all sat down on the sidewalk right there on the
corner of 10th and G Street to eat dinner! It worked out that I was sitting so that I
could see people as they walked past us.
There were some priceless reactions!
People took pictures, talked about us, and stopped and stared at us!
As we began
to eat, another man wandered over, and Tony introduced him as his brother,
Donald. George was kind and gave Donald
his Big Mac because he hadn't eaten it yet and everyone else had already begun
eating! As we ate, the three men told us
about their lives and gave us advice on everything from relating to other
people to what a wife will do for your life! (Tony thinks a wife would tie him
down!) At one point in our conversation,
Tony stopped and said, “Y’all are wreckin this world right now sitting and
eating with a bum!” And he was exactly
right! I am so thankful I was sitting in
a place that let me see the reaction of the people passing by so I could fully
appreciate Tony’s statement! We didn't
even have to talk to the people for them to know we were doing something unusual! I pray that those people could see Christ’s
love flowing between those three men and a group of teenagers. That’s what Christ’s love does: it changes
complete strangers into friends in forty-five minutes! It wrecks the world of the people actively
participating in that change and the people who witness that change! That was probably one of the best meals I
will ever have in my life, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the food I
ate!
I think we
all would have stayed there all night long talking and laughing with our new
friends, but, unfortunately, we did have to get back to our residence for the
week. As we finished our conversation,
we asked if we could pray for Tony and Donald.
(George had left to get his dinner from an organization handing out
meals for the homeless!) Tony asked if
we could pray “Our Father.” So the main
leader of our group prayed for Tony and Donald, and then we all prayed The Lord’s
Prayer together. It was one of the most
amazing prayers of my life! As we hugged
and said good-bye, Tony got teary eyed and he told us that many people have told
him that they would come back, but they never did. He was grateful that we had followed through
on our promise to come back. For Tony,
it was a powerful experience to have people be true to their word! I hope that we were able to give Tony restored
faith in the people around him. It
reinforced to me how important it is to honor the commitments you make and to
simply notice what is right in front of your eyes! Hundreds and maybe thousands of people have
walked by Tony, Donald and George, and they all missed out on meeting amazing
men who are God’s wonderful creations full of wisdom and joy! The people who never came back missed out on
being part of God’s provision for these men.
The irony
of this whole story is that I dreaded this activity the whole week before it
happened! I was worried about not
getting enough to eat and talking to strangers who might be rough around the
edges. I have worked with homeless
people before and had amazing experiences, so I don’t know why I was so
worried, but I was. At the corner of 10th
and G Street, I learned that my God is greater than all of our fears, worries,
past experiences, and self-absorbed actions!
He works through us and uses us in ways we can’t imagine! And there is so much joy in doing His work!
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