"My Friend Charlie" by Hannah Hume

"There are some things in your life that you will never forget. Sometimes you meet someone, or you see something that changes you forever, whatever it is you know you’re different. Take for example a tattoo. A tattoo is something you can’t take back, once you have it it leaves a mark on you forever, even if you have it removed. You know after you get that tattoo that what just happened will be an irreversible moment of time that you can never retrieve. For better or for worse your life (well actually your skin) has just been marked by those few seconds forever. The thing is that moments like these, the tattoo moments, usually happen when you least expect them. I was on a service project with my youth group. We had made kits to pass out to homeless people around St Joseph. The kits had things like socks, food, band aids, stocking caps, gloves, rain ponchos etc. We were on our church bus just driving around and looking for people to give our kits too. We had passed most of the kits out at this point and were getting ready to make a pit stop at McDonalds for some grub. That’s when I saw him. There was a man obviously homeless, wearing a worn green army jacket and sitting on the side of the road. I wanted to stop and give him one of our kits and so the driver pulled the bus over. Two other boys and I got out to hand him a kit. Usually we just hand them the pack say something like God Bless and get back onto our bus. This time though ended up a little different.I went to give the man a pack and he asked me a question. He said, you got any hot food? I told him no, just what was there in the kit, sorry. He said that was fine and thank you. He opened up the sack grabbed a bag of chips and started eating. Then he asked if we wanted to sit. We were a little unsure but didn’t want to seem rude and so we sat. We asked him if there was anything we could pray for him, and he said that he would like prayer for his daughter and his two grandkids. One thing led to another and before I knew it we were listening to this man tell us his story.We found out his name was Charlie that he had been married, and then went to Vietnam to fight. He was a little drunk so it was hard to understand exactly all the logistics but we learned that he had a daughter that he hadn’t seen in 5 years, and 2 grandkids, he even had pictures. Charlie was a pretty cool guy really, but also a bad alcoholic. Charlie had lost everything, his family and home to his addiction and had been homeless for 5 years. Turns out Charlie liked music too. He told us about when he used to play guitar. Its not that weird to think that a guy would like music or play guitar but it struck me, you see the thought had never crossed my mind in relation to Charlie. It’s easy to dehumanize homeless people, or those who are way different than us, but when you talk to them you find out they aren’t that different than you. Even more disconcerting, you’ll find that who you are now is not so different from who they once where. This is when you come face to face with the weakness in yourself and your own lack of control. As we continued to talk with Charlie we got to singing, Charlie’s favorite song was “Amazing Grace”. I’m sure we looked ridiculous 3 teenagers sitting on the side of the road with this homeless guy singing amazing grace, but that’s what we were doing. What I felt in that moment is hard to describe, I felt like Charlie’s friend. Charlie wasn’t a homeless guy we were there to help anymore; he was someone I genuinely cared about. I cared about him not because he was homeless and needed someone, I cared for him because I knew him and I cared about who he was as a person. Charlie was no longer a project for me, but a friend. We shared with Charlie about Gods’ grace. Charlie was ridden with guilt over the men he had killed in Vietnam. We gave Charlie some food and basic physical necessities and comforts. We gave Charlie prayer and friendship. Right before me and my friends were about to leave (We had been there for 2 hours) Charlie started going through the kit and he found the stocking cap that was in there. Charlie began to cry and as he cried he asked us, how did Jesus know I needed a stocking cap? Charlie didn’t give up the booze that day or become a Christian. He may still be on the streets…but I think that day we were able to love Charlie with the hands of Christ.Jesus had given him that stocking cap…and Jesus had sent us 3 teenagers to love Charlie. That’s what he needed more than food or even a stocking cap; Charlie needed to know that Jesus still cared about him.I walked away that day changed, I learned how to love people the way Jesus loved them. Not with cheap love that stands over someone and reaches down to them. But instead with love that gets in beside someone and says I love you, and I am here for you. Charlie had asked us earlier in the conversation whether or not we thought God still loved him, and when he found that stocking cap I think he found the answer. I know that I did." - Hannah Hume http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=89393303710&comments