God stood with him on the street corner with His hat out…

I saw the dirty homeless man with his hat out walking and working between cars at a busy intersection.  I pulled money out of my pocket with the intent of giving it to him, but the light changed and we were separated.  I shrugged and thought the Father knew best as I headed on home.  As I drove away, I was impressed with the thought the Father wanted me to be intentional about this gift and to turn around and meet the man.  So i did…

I pulled into a parking lot near the man and walked to the intersection.  I put enough money in his hat to let him know i seriously cared for him and asked if we could chat.  He said, “Yes.  Let’s get under the shade tree.”

I shook his hand and looked in his eyes wondering how old he was.  I figure him to be 35-40 in actual years, but having aged on the corner to be 60-70 years old.  The alcohol has taken its toll.  I figure it unlikely I will see the man on that corner much longer.

Buzz explains that this is his corner.  It was given him about 10 years, ago by the lady that drops off newspapers for him to sell every Sunday.  He is expected to stay on the corner until his 80 papers are sold, producing his weeks income.  It is Thursday, today and he must supplement his newspaper income with begging for coins the rest of the week.

The thing I see in his eyes as we chat is deep hurt and a lack of hope.  I believe the prompting by God to go back and meet this homeless man was to give Buzz a gift.  I gave him cash, but that wasn’t the gift.  The gift came from God in the form of love as I sat next to Buzz under the shade tree as traffic whizzed by.  I reached out, put my hand on His shoulder and prayed a simple prayer.

Just a few words expressing the love God had for him and confirmed God stood with him on the street corner with His hat out…