Joseph:
A 60-something year old man living on the streets of Toronto. A few minutes into conversation and it is obvious that underneath his aged and hardened demeanour is a young boy craving purpose and appreciation.
"I'm old, there's nothing left for me, my life is over - why am I still here?", he asks. I ask him what his passions are and he says "I don't know". He tells me he comes from up north, and after sharing his views on government, farming, and how the world has "screwed him over", he says with smiling eyes, "you'll win".
"What do you mean?" I ask, more so just to keep him talking.
"You'll win at life", he says, and his eyes smile wistfully.
A younger man interrupts, coming up to me for juice, holding something that reeks of chemicals, and someone behind him shouts "You gotta stop sniffing glue man!" Another man refuses a handshake, not wanting us to touch his unclean hands that were tainted by whatever the day's shady business might have been.
We give Joseph some socks and as I turn to leave I shake his hand. He holds it a little longer than necessary adding, "Be good."
All of us: the Josephs, the glue-sniffers, the shady, the searching...we know the difference between right and wrong even if our lives have not demonstrated it. My heart breaks for those who have grown skeptical, hard, and hopeless, searching for something to fill the emptiness that goes much deeper than material poverty.
Nancy:
She lives in a seniors home, and is a middle-aged woman suffering from an injury that prevents her from working, so she spends her days alone. She is Catholic, evident from the rosaries and crosses around her room, but despite the outward appearance of faith she is dispirited, dissatisfied with life, ending every sentence with, "but what can I do?" and a shrug. Life has taught her that without a job, husband or children she is useless, with nothing to offer, and she holds her hands out, empty, to emphasize her point.
We serve a God who made us to need him. He built us with innate desires that only He can satisfy because He loves us so much and wants us to turn our hearts to Him, to find satisfaction in Him alone. No matter the situation we find ourselves in, or what wrong turns we have made, there is always hope in Christ, who grabs a hold of our filthy and ignoble hands that so often work in opposition to His will. Yet, no matter how unworthy we are, He comforts, changing our attitudes and steering us in the right direction.
The things this world tells us are necessary, like money, or health, can only get us so far. We will leave this world empty-handed no matter what, so what matters is where we place our trust, and what (Who) we hold onto. The Josephs and Nancies of our world (all of us) need to know that whether or not we are seen as an asset to society, we are an asset to God's Kingdom if we will let Him shape and use us. He makes a feeble heart strong, a foolish mind wise, and an aimless life purposeful. God is present in the places we think are too dirty, and the places we have forgotten about. He is not distant, or far-off, but is ever-reaching for us in every moment, wanting to fill us so that no matter what our physical or material prospects for this life look like, we can go on living, being truly
alive! There is nothing we can do to earn His affection, He takes us as we are, and where we are.
Psalm 139:7-10 - Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
Let us remember that we all come before God empty-handed, but it's those hands He wants to hold.
