5 Minutes w/ Steve

This past Friday, I went to out of my office to the gas station to get a snack.  On my way, I thought I'd check in w/ my buddy Steve (at the bus stop).

He was getting his sleeping bag ready and so I offered to help him carry it to the bench.  We sat and we talked.  I started off with the normal, "How you doing, Steve?"

He gave me the normal, "I'm doing fine."

But then he threw me a curve ball.  He then said, "How are you?"

And I was stunned.  Caught off guard a little.

"I'm a little hungry," I said.

"Well, at least you're honest," he chuckles.

...and I feel like an idiot.  I mean I have a little case of the muchies and I go straight for the convenience store.  This guy...Steve...who knows when's the last time he ate.  (I'm an idiot) I ask him if he needs anything, but he says no.

I show him a picture of my family...of my wife and two girls.  He smiled and told me about his family in Texas.  So I ask him if he ever wants to get back there.  If he wants to see his family again.

"Tornadoes. No thank you.  Cold weather.  No thanks."

...and again I am just amazed at how self centered I am.  Assuming that this man wants or would want the things that I want.  Or because this man doesn't have the things that I would want, I assume he isn't happy.

He reads to me a passage from Ecclesiastes 3 KJV.  The gist of this passage is that there is a time for everything.  What I get from him is that he is content with what he has in this season of his life.

I tell him I gotta get going and to let me know if he needs anything.

He tells me I'm a good man.

...and you know what?  That meant something to me.

That day, Steve gave me something.
(Thanks, Steve.)

Powerade was enough

So I biked in to work again today.  It's the Friday after Thanksgiving and there was very little traffic.  Either everyone is at the malls or they are at home sleeping off the meal/s they had yesterday.

Anyhow...after I got to the office, I went over to the gas station to get a sports drink (cause that's what athletes have to do after they do their...athlete-ing). 

Powerade was on sale. 2 for $2.50

So I got one red and one blue.

As I was walking back to the office, I saw my buddy Steve at the bus stop.  He said he was listening to the LSU vs Arkansas game (I should've asked him the score)...on a new walkman that he got (which is cool cause his other one got stolen). 

I say, "Hey that's cool.  You want one of these (Powerade's)?  Red or Blue?"

He takes the blue and says thanks.

After short meeting, at the office, I go back to the gas station and pick up a 3 spam musubi's.  2 for me, 1 for Steve.  With my musubi's in hand, I walk back to the bus stop and offer one of them to him.  "You want one of these?"

I expect him to say yes and thank you as usual.

But he says, no.  He's fine.

It's not that he doesn't like them.  I've gotten some musubi's for him before.

"Ok," I say, "take care."

And as I'm walking back to my office with Steve's musubi, I wonder if he was too proud to take it?  I wonder if he doesn't like to just take and take and take.  I wonder if he'll receive things that he needs...but for the things that he doesn't...he won't.

I look at him and ask myself: What does he want out of life or does he have everything he wants?

I wonder.

But for today all he wanted was a Powerade...and that was enough.

Soap, Chips, Veggies, & a Coke

Well, the other day I walked past Steve on my way to the gas station to get a cup of coffee.  I was going to say something to him, but he had headphones on and looked like he was resting.  So I tried to make eye contact and acknowledge him and then went and got my stuff.  On my way back, he was lying down with a cap drawn over his eyes.  Sleeping I guess...or so I thought.  I didn't want to bother him if he was sleeping, so I just went back to the office.

(Thinking about it now, it's kinda ridiculous.  I should've just said hi.  Anyway...)

I get back to the office and a little while after, Max says hey, I think Steve is still out there.  We should make him a plate of food.

(Great, right after I walk by the man, Max has this great idea...but often, I feel that's how God works in my life.)

So we get to it.

All we have in the fridge are some veggies...and I'm feeling a little embarrassed cause that's all we have to give.  And then I think to myself, "Why are you embarrassed?  He doesn't have anything to eat.  Something is better than nothing.  Right?"

So I get over that.

Max also gets some chips, soap, and a Coke.  Doesn't look like that pitiful of an offering anymore.

As we are walking out, we say a few short prayers.  We ask God to bless Steve.  We ask God for wisdom as to how to love Steve.

We get there and this is not a movie, so this picture also comes with smells and I can smell Steve.  Which makes it a little more difficult to be there.  He's lying down curled up, headphones on, with his cap still drawn over his eyes.  He's resting.  I'm ready to tell Max let's leave the plate and other stuff by him and let Steve rest, but before I can say anything, here's Max nudging Steve's arm...

Steve wakes up with a tired and confused look on his face.  But he gets up and acknowledges us. So we (re)introduce ourselves and give him our little gifts of soap, chips, veggies, & a coke.

We talk stories.

We hear how he tries to keep his area clean so the cops don't bust him or tell him to move.  We hear how he is still healing from a hip replacement.  We hear how other people steal his stuff like his blanket and soap...and as he mentions the soap, he looks at the big plastic bag full of hotel soap and shampoo and says how it was just what he needed. (Wow.)

We stay there for a little while longer and before we leave, we ask Steve if we can pray for him.  He says it's alright.  So we do.  We pray.  At the bus stop.  We pray for healing to come to his hip and to his ulcers.  We pray for God to provide for Steve.  We pray for God to bless Steve.  (Amen)  We shake hands and let him know that our office is around the corner if he needs any help.

Then Max and I head back.

As we do, I think about what just happened.  I think about what my plan for Steve was: to provide a few things, gain his trust, infuse a little hope into his life, pray that Steve comes to the Lord, gets off the streets, gets a place to stay, gets a job, comes to church and tells everyone how God changed his life!

But that wasn't God's plan.  Not that day anyway.  God's plan was for me to get to know Steve better.  God's plan was for me to see how grateful he was for those simple things.  My plan was for me to go and bless Steve and for me to teach him something about God, but God's plan was that Steve was going to teach me...about contentment...about being grateful...and about what we need to "survive".

If we think about it, what do we need?  Not that much.  But we stress, fight, and work so hard for things that really aren't that essential.

This is a difficult verse because of the culture most of us live in, but it comes to mind:

Proverbs 30:7-9 NIV
7“Two things I ask of you, Lord;

do not refuse me before I die:

8Keep falsehood and lies far from me;

give me neither poverty nor riches,

but give me only my daily bread.

9Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you

and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’

Or I may become poor and steal,

and so dishonor the name of my God.

...so thanks, God.
...and thanks, Steve.