Sometimes God
just reaches down and slaps me upside the head. Now, if this statement makes
you wince, stick with me and trust that I know what I’m talking about! He’s not
making me wait until I see Him in the afterlife to keep me in line, He just keeps
teaching me here on earth as I go along my very imperfect, human way.
So what prompted
this slap, you may ask? Well, here, to my shame, is my story. Keep in mind that
the first thing we do at Hope House before we open every day is pray for
kindness, patience and compassion to shine from each of us (this is where I got
in trouble).
So the story
starts earlier last week, when “Tommy” came in to Hope House looking for help
paying his rent to some friends who were letting him crash at their house. Tommy
is a regular client, is usually homeless and often slightly inebriated when he
visits us. Let’s just say he is one of our more challenging clients. When we explained
we don’t help pay rent, he became very upset and yelled about how no one cares
about him, etc., etc…….then he left after getting a bag of food.
The very
next day, Tommy stopped in to let loose with a loud verbal outburst about how
it is our fault he is homeless, and he hates the Catholic Church and us
especially. After yelling this at me, he left the room and then came back in to
ask for some clothing, which we of course gave him.
Flash forward
to a busy Friday afternoon—lots of people at Hope House for assistance, so many
that they were spilled out onto the lawn waiting their turns. We were doing
double intake duties to keep up, so when I came out and saw Tommy’s name was
next, I just sighed. It had been a long week with Tommy, and I was not in the
mood for him at all. I called his name, looked around—no Tommy. Someone said he
might be outside, so I went out and called again—no Tommy. I came back inside,
smiling in relief that I didn’t have to deal with him again. Just then, someone
said “there’s Tommy out there with his bike”. So I again went outside, hoping
he was heading out and didn’t want to come in again. When I called out to him, I
asked him if he still needed to check in. he immediately said yes and almost
ran into the building, with me and my poor attitude following. Upon getting
into the privacy of the intake room, Tommy told me he didn’t need anything, he
just came by to tell me he was sorry for his behavior all week.
SLAP!! That sound
you hear is God asking me if I really mean what I say when I pray each day, or
am I just being a Pharisee. You see, it didn’t matter if I let Tommy or anyone
else know how much I did not want to help him—what mattered was my inner
impatience and lack of compassion for this fellow human being. What mattered
was my commitment to Christ to treat each and every one of the parts of His body
as I would treat Him. This is the whole
focus of Hope House, and it is what makes us special.
SLAP! That’s
God saying “don’t make me stop this car!”
