I don't know who photographer Kirsten Bole is, but her picture seems to fit my afternoon...A thin man in need came to the church today. He managed to get into the building with a young family that came to visit the preschool office downstairs. He didn't have our access code and shouldn't have gotten into the building that easily. That's not right; I better check on that...
He just needed a bus token and a little help to get back home to South Minneapolis. Apparently, he came up here to visit the food shelf next door, but it was closed when he got here. He was agitated and too aggressively nice, asking to see "the minister, the Pope or whatever you've got here." There was something off about this fellow. I couldn't smell alcohol or anything strange, but he wasn't quite right. Something wasn't working inside. I knew I probably needed to get this guy out of the building sooner rather than later.
We don't typically give cash to anyone, the potential for abuse and problems are just too great. It is almost universally a bad idea. But in this case, I thought the best thing would be to give the guy a little cash for the bus just to get him back home. We did so, he kissed my hand and asked how he could work to repay the money. I told him it wasn't necessary, helping people is what we're here to do. I escorted him to the door and blessed him as we parted. But as I went back in the office, I watched through the office window to make sure he left the building.
He didn't.
He stopped by the door for a moment and his hands came to his face. Then one hand came up to the standpipe, to brace himself, and the other to his eyes and he slumped over. I realized he was crying. I stepped back out of the office and asked him if he was okay and if there was anything else he wanted to talk about. He looked back up the stairs at me and exhaustedly said, "No man, sometimes you just have to cry, you know?"
May God bless this tired, frantic and tearful man. May God grant us wisdom to know how to love the tearful folks around us...
Amen.
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