Beauty

Today I went to a coffee house in South Bend to work on a few papers in preparation for student teaching. When I was there I ran into a man I met over the summer with a few of my friends that I work with at a summer camp. When we met him in the summer he told us he was an agnostic, and asked us to pray for him for some very serious needs. When I ran into him tonight we began talking and I offered him a ride to The House of Need where he was staying; a house for the homeless. My first warning sign went up in my mind, to not give a ride to a man, alone, in South Bend, at night; yet for some reason I felt a peace about it. We loaded his bags and I gave him a ride to this House of Need. He invited me in, after declining the first time, he asked again and I went in. Another warning sign popped up in my head. I again, didn't listen to the warning sign. As I went in, it was a house of many homeless people and a few guests from Bethel (a Christian college in town). I observed as this random assortment of people came together as a family, prayed together and ate together.

Oh, how they loved each other.

I was humbled by the love that they expressed to one another and me. I stayed awhile and met a few people, heard a few of their stories and shared a little bit of mine. As I was there, I couldn't believe the actions I just took, but nothing inside me told me that it was a bad idea. I thought about the clothes I was wearing, the car I was driving, and the house I was soon coming home to, I felt completely selfish. Selfish and guilty. I complain about being a "poor college student" yet, 1% of the world goes to college. A poor college student is a contradictory expression. I keep thinking about the verse about how the more that is given to you, that much more will be required of you, and confessed forgiveness. I pray that this Christmas I will give more and love more. I felt convicted by Mike's words about encouraging one another and pointing out the Christ in people around us. I want to be better at seeing the beauty and hope in people and not the destruction and brokenness.

I saw so much beauty and hope tonight.