Peter and the Hungry Man

Tonight I had a date with someone, a very wonderful someone. The date went well and if this was my personal blog I would be telling all the details, but this blog is for discussing things like what happened afterward. I'm on Wabash walking in the general direction of south when a man stops me and asks me for some change. Truthfully, I told him that I don't carry cash and that I couldn't help him. He started to tell me that he was homeless and needed just a sandwich to get him through. I'm always eager to help people, perhaps to a fault. I walked with him over to the 7-Eleven kiddy-corner and a block from where I ran into him and bought him a sandwich and a bottle of water.

After I made it to the Red line subway station on State and Jackson I sat down on a bench to wait for the 95th/Ryan. The man sitting opposite me got my attention, grabbed my hand in what I thought was a handshake, but instead he kept a firm grip on it. He introduced himself as Peter, began to whimper and moan about how alone he was and how he needed a friend. He told me he was hungry and need some money. The conversation continued with him telling me that even "my people, black people" won't giving him money, saying, "I got nothing". His eyes were bloodshot and his breath reeked of alcohol, so I had already decided that I wasn't going to take a second look in my wallet to see if I had a dollar. That's when Peter said something that shocked me, "I suck dicks, I'll go anywhere you wanna go; make you feel real good". The emotional side of me is instantly repulsed by this proposition and I'm ready to run away like Bush got re-elected for four more years, but instead sat there and listened as he tried to smooth talk me into this transaction. I told him firmly but nicely that I could help him and walked away.

Whether he was going to buy booze or food, I am left amazed that this really happened. You see it on television, the stereotypical stoner who will perform sexual favors for money so they can get their fix, but to have someone proposition you in real life... There's nothing entertaining or worthwhile in portraying it in any light other than what it is: a sickening sign of the desperate need for Jesus. I can already hear the cynical retorts, "People can't eat a Bible" and while I would enjoy snapping back that they could, I recognize that it's important to take care of the soul AND the body. This blog is all about how I am trying to make my soul transformation tangible to the bodies around me who have names and faces as unforgettable as the pyramids themselves. G-d how I long to see the brokenness of this desperate and dying world removed, to see the sick and needy covered in the abundance of Your Providence and love. Lord, do you see the suffering of Peter who, in his brokenness, turns to alcohol and prostitution to try to fix all the things only You can heal? Where were you when Peter was asking me for money, Lord? It seems like for every person I try to help, there are tens of thousands still waiting.

Oh Lord, how long, Lord?

James