God appointment - Luke

This past week at the mission was absolutely crazy.

Wednesday, following a 7,000 lb. unloading of food from the regional food bank, a full day of 50 families for food and clothes, 5 eye appointments and a Valentines bash organized by yours truly for our jr. high/high school kids (which means I grabbed some 2 liters, frozen pastrys and heated up some frozen pizzas, with the help of Chandy), Chandy and I headed off with one of our teens to a meeting with her DHS workers. Without going into much detail, we meet with her real mom, foster mom, brother and 2 case workers to sort out the logistics of her pregnancy and were she was going to keep the baby. Really I was more of a fly on the wall just making a presence to let our teen know we are supporting her.

After a somewhat grueling 2 hours of verbal battling I headed off to my house to change and rush off to a very important city-league basketball game (what I thought was important). I was ready to clear my head of all of the days' events and kick back a little bit. But, before I could do that I had to get some gas. My "gas empty" logo had been flashing for 10-15 miles. I drove 2-3 additional miles before pulling into a 7-11 only to find that their gas was "out of order". Huh? None of their pumps were functional so I backtracked a few miles to another gas station and as I pulled in I realized you couldn't pay at the pump! No way. I think at this point I actually said something like, "Welcome to the 21st century", to the gas station as I peeled out of the lot and wasted my already dwindling gas. So, plan C was to come to the gas station located right across from the mission, the 7-11 at Western and 10th. Shortly after I swiped my credit card at the pump, which saved 30-45 seconds, I spotted a man who comes to the mission frequently.

This man is generally pretty quiet and keeps to himself but over the last several weeks at our Sunday worship we had created somewhat of a friendship. So, I felt comfortable enough to call out his name. He, lets call him Bill, turned around and waved and responded, "Hey Luke", and then headed inside the store. I didn't think much more about it but several minutes later as I was pulling out of the gas station I spotted Bill again, walking. I knew that Bill lived close to the mission because he always walks to the Sunday night services. I pulled over and offered Bill a ride home. He gladly accepted and got in. Turns out Bill only lives like 2 blocks from the mission, so our conversation was short, but meaningful.

Bill was a little more talkative this specific night and I was starting to formulate some reasons as to why that was, which he quickly confirmed. "I messed up tonight, Luke", he told me. "What do you mean, Bill, how did you mess up?" He informed me that he had been to the bar and gotten drunk. I asked him if that happens alot and he told me not too often but he has trouble with it every so often. He was still very respectful as we talked and I could tell he was embarrassed. As I pulled onto his street I told him I would see him Sunday night hopefully. He looked right at me and said, "I will see you Sunday. I just love coming down there. For some reason I just can't stay away from that place, Something just keeps pulling me back there. I will see you Sunday."

I realize that he was drunk and so much of what he said was probably as a result of his increased courage, but the fact that he said this at all really made me think about where he was coming from. There really is something about the mission that keeps bringing him back and it's not anything he could pinpoint but I know what it is. It's the same thing that brought me to Christ, it's his love. The love and acceptance that Bill experiences at the mission on Sunday nights is why he keeps coming back. Sooner or later he is going to figure out why he keeps coming, I just hope I will be there when he does.