Last year the Anne Arundel county hosted an event called 'Homeless Resource Day'. This came out from the office of county executive John Leopold to offer medical resources, personal hygiene assistance, job resources, and housing information to the people experiencing homelessness in the AA county. Last year I was in Thailand when this happened, but I was fortunate this time to be around to participate in the 2nd Homeless Resource Day.
They changed the venue to a middle school, more local and national organizations were involved and everything seemed fairly well planned. Majority of the volunteers served as a 'guide'. You are assigned one client at a time, and you are his/her advocate. Your job is to figure out this person's need, then take him/her to the right location for the service they needed.
I was assigned to an elderly lady, who as she got assigned to me goes 'WHO are you and WHAT do you want'... excellent. Let's just say she was a fire cracker; constantly lit, constantly going. At some point, people who were there last year came up to me and apologized to me for 'getting me the short end of the stick'... so you get the picture.
However as the day went by, I noticed that her attitude started to change (not towards others, mind you) She seemed to have accepted that I was there for her just simply to help... nothing more, nothing less. The biggest turn around came when we started to talk about prayers. As soon as I asked if she prayed, her face lit up and her eyes widen. It was like a little ray of light cutting through the dark clouds. Do you go to church, she asked, and went on to telling me that her greatest possession is this Christmas ornament that she got that she takes with her where-ever she goes, and reminds her to pray.
This day I saw something to remind me why I believe I believe. I saw the same smile that I saw when I talked to Christians in Thailand. We share a faith that can change life and give hope to the hopeless. We have a faith that can re-deem a broken soul. perhaps the person that I got was indeed the short end of the stick... but it was the best, God given short end of the stick I had ever seen.
No comments:
Post a Comment