Do you ever have those moments when things just materialize in your favor? I call those God moments... if you aren't a God moment kind of person maybe you call them karma.. or just good luck.
I like my God moment theory better.. has more flavor and makes me warm and fuzzy inside.
I'd like to tell you about a gentleman I met a few weeks ago. He'd spent a good many years in prison and was in his late 50's. He spoke about how ending up in Phoenix was a miracle and what he considered a gift from God. He didn't think he'd be allowed to leave Kansas for many years because of his probation. But despite that.. someone decided he could come here and he ended up in the office of the Ecumenical Chaplaincy for the Homeless trying to get an Arizona State ID.
I talked to him for a while. He was articulate and polite and very humble and extremely grateful. I like this in a person.. particularly in a person who has been locked up. Bitterness and hardness had no hold on this man. I spoke to him about getting an affidavit of identity from his PO here in Arizona because he didn't have enough documentation to get an ID. I also told him about programs that are geared towards helping people just released from prison reintegrate into society. Having spent so much of his adult life behind bars he was anxious, and easily confused by all that was expected from him and what he needed to do.
At any rate.. Mr. Politeness left with his instructions and promised to return with the affidavit. I next saw him 2 days later sitting with a co-worker. I patted him on the shoulder and asked how he's been doing. This man who prison tried to harden looked at me with a quivering lip. He said he got the affidavit and only got on the wrong bus once. He said he really, really wanted to thank us for caring about him. He said...'Don't misunderstand me... there are lots of good people here but I really feel like you guys really, really care whether I make it or not.'
So Mr Humble warmed my heart that day.
Another 2 days pass and I see him in the dayroom at the LDRC during the annual Christmas party for the homeless. I stopped him in the crowd to wish him a Merry Christmas.. he lit up when he recognized me and pulling me off to the side he said he wanted to share what had happened to him when he went to get his ID at Motor Vehicles.....
He said he arrived a bit anxious and harried because he needed to get across town to his PO and had other mandatory appointments that day. He walked into MVD and took a number... sat down and heard number 62 being called. He glanced at his number and his heart fell... number 101! He wondered how he would possibly get his ID and make his other appointments.
As he wrestled in his head with his dilemma.... do I stay and get an ID? Do I come another day? But my PO will want to see my ID? He grew more anxious and stressed not used to making such decisions in prison... as his worry reached a quiet crescendo the man next to him suddenly turned and said... 'Oh hey.. I took 2 numbers by accident.. take this one.' and handed him number 67.
Mr Blessed said to me in the day room.... 'Every day God does something wonderful for me... I don't know why. I don't know that I deserve it. But I’m going to tell everyone I meet about how God can change their lives... about what he has done for me. I'll never stop. It's what I'm supposed to do.'
So there you have it. My blessed friend's story. You may call it karma.. you may call it good luck. I saw the look on that man's face and the light in his eyes shining right from his very soul. I call it a God moment. Yup. More flavor to feed my own warm and fuzzy soul.
I like my God moment theory better.. has more flavor and makes me warm and fuzzy inside.
I'd like to tell you about a gentleman I met a few weeks ago. He'd spent a good many years in prison and was in his late 50's. He spoke about how ending up in Phoenix was a miracle and what he considered a gift from God. He didn't think he'd be allowed to leave Kansas for many years because of his probation. But despite that.. someone decided he could come here and he ended up in the office of the Ecumenical Chaplaincy for the Homeless trying to get an Arizona State ID.
I talked to him for a while. He was articulate and polite and very humble and extremely grateful. I like this in a person.. particularly in a person who has been locked up. Bitterness and hardness had no hold on this man. I spoke to him about getting an affidavit of identity from his PO here in Arizona because he didn't have enough documentation to get an ID. I also told him about programs that are geared towards helping people just released from prison reintegrate into society. Having spent so much of his adult life behind bars he was anxious, and easily confused by all that was expected from him and what he needed to do.
At any rate.. Mr. Politeness left with his instructions and promised to return with the affidavit. I next saw him 2 days later sitting with a co-worker. I patted him on the shoulder and asked how he's been doing. This man who prison tried to harden looked at me with a quivering lip. He said he got the affidavit and only got on the wrong bus once. He said he really, really wanted to thank us for caring about him. He said...'Don't misunderstand me... there are lots of good people here but I really feel like you guys really, really care whether I make it or not.'
So Mr Humble warmed my heart that day.
Another 2 days pass and I see him in the dayroom at the LDRC during the annual Christmas party for the homeless. I stopped him in the crowd to wish him a Merry Christmas.. he lit up when he recognized me and pulling me off to the side he said he wanted to share what had happened to him when he went to get his ID at Motor Vehicles.....
He said he arrived a bit anxious and harried because he needed to get across town to his PO and had other mandatory appointments that day. He walked into MVD and took a number... sat down and heard number 62 being called. He glanced at his number and his heart fell... number 101! He wondered how he would possibly get his ID and make his other appointments.
As he wrestled in his head with his dilemma.... do I stay and get an ID? Do I come another day? But my PO will want to see my ID? He grew more anxious and stressed not used to making such decisions in prison... as his worry reached a quiet crescendo the man next to him suddenly turned and said... 'Oh hey.. I took 2 numbers by accident.. take this one.' and handed him number 67.
Mr Blessed said to me in the day room.... 'Every day God does something wonderful for me... I don't know why. I don't know that I deserve it. But I’m going to tell everyone I meet about how God can change their lives... about what he has done for me. I'll never stop. It's what I'm supposed to do.'
So there you have it. My blessed friend's story. You may call it karma.. you may call it good luck. I saw the look on that man's face and the light in his eyes shining right from his very soul. I call it a God moment. Yup. More flavor to feed my own warm and fuzzy soul.
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