The other side of homelessness…
I met an amazing family today. I hope they don’t mind that I use their names here, but to tell the story, I kind of have to. I met Mom, Twin Sister, Twin Sister’s Husband, Daughter 1, Daughter 2, Daughter 3 and Son. Oh, and Granddaughter. They came from Kansas, Lincoln and Kearney I believe. And they came to see what it was all about. This thing that God orchestrates every single Sunday on a downtown street corner in Omaha, Nebraska. I hope I’m not out of line writing this here, but I believe it was also a bit about closure. To a degree anyway. At least it would be for me. If my brother or father or son or grandfather spent some of his last months, weeks, days or hours with this group that gathers here each week. I’d like to think I know why they came. But the reasons have to be so vast and different, that I’m pretty sure I’d screw it up if I tried to list the reasons. I think, if you boil it all down, they simply wanted to see. To maybe get an idea of what it was like for this person that left us way too early. Way too early. I’ve written about this deal several times. And I’ve seen it play out several times over the past couple of years. Most recently, Papa Smurf left us. I knew this fellow as well as you can get to know someone within a couple hour time span once a week. Never did get his real name. Pretty sure it wasn’t Papa Smurf. And Bobby McGee was shortly before that. Can’t write or say his name without getting the Janis Joplin song stuck in my head. And now he’s gone. And Doug Etter. And The list goes on. And these are guys that I really believe fall through the cracks. They don’t have to leave us like this. Do they? What’s the deal? And then of course, there’s Wade. Like I said, I wrote a couple of times about Wade a few months ago. Camping on the old Beach at Lake Manawa State Park. I’ve heard several different stories about what happened with Wade. But however it happened, I keep asking myself why? And of course there is absolute silence. Because I don’t think we ever really find out why. At least not in this lifetime.
So today, Fay, Wendy, Bill, Lacey, Heather, Jordon, Isaac, and beautiful little Aza (that’s AAAAAAAAAAAAAA……ZZZZZZZ…AAAAAAA for those wondering how she spells it 
came to visit. I think I got the names right and to be honest I had to go back and re-read a few of the comments they posted on a blog site that I put this on. I had to go back. And when I did, I read some of those comments through tears. It just brought it all back to the forefront for me. Because it’s like this…all these guys we see downtown for that brief time on Sunday? They all belong to someone. And they ALL have a story as unique as you can imagine. But they all belong to someone. And Wade belonged to this family. And this story, for me anyway, just keeps growing. I feel like I know Wade so much better now than I did when he was with us. An in fact I do. I’ve found out what a great chef he was. What a great son he was. What a great brother he was. What a great father he was. What a great grandfather he was. And what a great friend he was. Now I’d be remiss if I painted this rosy picture. Because it wasn’t all goodness in the end for Wade. But it was what it was. And he left quite a legacy. I saw it first hand today. 3 incredibly beautiful daughters. A great looking son. A beautiful twin sister. A wonderful mother. An amazing little granddaughter. I met them all today. As I stood on the wall to make a few quick announcements, not the least of which was that St. James Untied Methodist Church from Bellevue cooked the entire meal today, I mentioned that everyone needed to be aware of the greatness that is God’s unbelievable faithfulness. That he provides us with all this each and every week. That he is the one and only reason we are able to so this with any sustenance each week. As I mentioned these things, I also mentioned that we had a few special visitors this week. And as I looked back to where Wendy was standing and I saw her tears, I choked up. I have to tell you, this thing we do each week is in my blood now. We are coming up on an anniversary of sorts. Next week will mark year two of this journey. And in that time, some pretty amazing things have happened. And I just sense God preparing us for even bigger things yet. I have no idea what that means. But I sense it. And better yet, I see things happening each week that make it so much more than a meal. So much more than a few items of clothing and hygiene items. So much more than I could have imagined two years ago when we first set off on this thing.
And today He brought us together with a family that lost one of theirs recently. Full circle if you will. And it was an amazing meeting for me. They were so grateful that we would go down and do this. I’d be crazy not to. I am so blessed to be able to go every week. I simply cannot imagine our lives without it. It’s become a fixture. And the people we come in contact with are the reason. Look, anyone can set out a meal. But when you do it in the name of God, it becomes an event and I only hope we are doing it justice in His name. That He smiles when he sees the tables coming out of the trailer each week. I pray that none of our friends ever has to leave us in this manner again. I pray that some Sunday we’ll show up and no one will be there. I can’t imagine that happening, but maybe someday it will. That all of our friends will have their own place, with all the food they need and enough to share with others. I pray that when I meet a family like the one I met today, it will be for all the good reasons.
It’s funny. I can almost guarantee that I would never have met these folks if Wade was still here. But he’s not. And today God blessed me with the other side of homelessness. The real side. The side that tells the story. What a painful, bittersweet day it must have been for them. I felt like I just wanted to spend the entire day with them. But I also wanted to stay back and just let them kind of figure things out. That’s probably what I would have wanted. So many questions. So few answers. But the bottom line here for me is that God’s grace is sufficient. Doesn’t make it easy. But it is the only way I can reconcile things.
Thanks to Wade’s family for coming today. Thanks to Wendy for bringing enough cookies from her bake shop to feed an army. Thanks to the folks at St. James for all their incredible efforts. And to all the folks who come every single week to help. Thanks for making it a wonderful day. At least as wonderful as it could be given the circumstances. As we said our goodbyes today, I couldn’t help but think what an amazing God we serve. Wade’s family was heading home. But not before a trip to the Old Beach at Lake Manawa. One final bit of closure I suppose. A few of Wade’s friends were going with. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been. My prayers are with them as they try to deal with this.
This is from a devotional I read recently. It obviously reminded me of the first time I heard the starfish story…
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Too often we do not allow ourselves to be used by God in practical means. This reminds me of a story I once heard: A boy had gone down to the seashore following a great storm. There lying on the beach, washed up by the giant surf were hundreds and thousands of starfish, all of which were dying. The boy ran down to the shore and began picking them up one at a time and throwing them back into the water. A man came along and asked, “Boy, what are you doing?” The boy answered simply, “Saving starfish!” The man was shocked and responded, “You’ve got to be kidding, there are far too many, you can’t hope to make a difference.” The boy held a starfish in his hand and threw it back into the ocean as he said, “I made a difference for that one!”
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Peace and have a great and blessed week.
Whatever you do, make a difference.
…it matters to that one…
WHAT A AMAZING DAY! I first want to thankk God for allowing this amazing experience our family shared. I do this for Dave, as I have learned through getting to know Dave, it is true, “All things possible are through God”.
Then I must start with you Dave and thanking you, Robin and your family for being “Hero’s”! You truly are. We came down to spend time with you and all the friends to say our good-byes and in hope of answering some questions about my brothers death and time he spent in Omaha on the streets. We did get some of the questions answered and met with some of Wades buddies, thanks to you. Meeting Alan and Mike were such a key part for me. Meeting people who knew Wade and were yet his best buddies his last months was a comfort in my mixed-up crazy feelings with all this. They were so kind and willing to share information, stories etc. I kept looking at them wondering and thinking they too have loved ones worried about them, praying for them, and why can’t they pull themselves out of this life style. I think that is not for us to know, only they know and can do it with lots of faith, I am here just to accept, not judge and offer what I can. So, after I told myself this, I opened my heart and ears to listen and care. As you said, Alan and Mike took us to the lake and as we walked to the site, I could see Alan slowing his stride to the shore and when he reached the shore and stood on a large rock, he stood still and silent and looked at the water and tears came, as I knew he missed his buddy, he carried guilt thinking if he was there this wouldn’t of happened, as he mentioned he always looked after Wade. It was no ones fault, it was Wades time to go home. He was tired, hurting and I think knew he couldn’t beat this addiction and God asked him if he wanted to go home and he was ready. My mom told me this and I do think it is true as I was watching the reactions of family and friends on that shore. He was in a peaceful place and both Mike and Alan had shared he was happy in that place. We all took our moments and had our prayers we lifted to God and said our good-byes. It is our birthday as you know and all Wade’s kids brought birthday gifts for me and one from Wade, one of his dreams they gave me. I cried and just thought what gifts he gave us with his kids. We left and gave Mike and Alan a ride back downtown where we had met them. It was sad to even say good-bye to them as I will wonder how they will do. They walked away I watched until they disappeared but not out of my heart. I will continue to pray for them and all the other friends we met. Dave you and your family are hero’s in every way. You give so much and you give God honor, He is smiling down at you everytime you pull that table out of the trailer each week and serve. I had such a “wierd” day, full of sadness, gladness, faith, awe, so many feeling, I am still sorting it all out. But what you did for me was take away some of the sadness by feeling me with inspiration and hope, knowing that one person can make a difference. You were right, we most likely never would of met you or have come to Omaha with Wade in his condition, but Wades death brought us to you and opened my heart to caring, acceptance and giving. Wade might of known or wanted us to come and see all this and accept him for his actions. God works through you in amazing ways and all thanks goes to God, and yet thanks needs to go to you since afterall, you are here on Earth doing his work. You will see us again as my husband and I will plan trips to come and serve.
Thanks for making a difference.
Wendy
[...] paid a visit to Omaha Nebraska last weekend. These are some of the faces of Omaha’s poor & homeless we met there. [...]
Visit to Omaha’s Homeless | TechIntersect said this on November 6, 2008 at 7:29 am |
Healing? Closure?……..Maybe a little of both… 3:19pm
November 5th would be my father’s birthday. I first looked at it as not looking forward to this first birthday he couldn’t celebrate, but then I heard my Momma telling my sweet little Aza that next week was Grandpa’s first birthday to celebrate with Jesus! It brought tears to my eyes, what a beautiful way to look at it. Still doesn’t make it easy, but it does make me smile to think of that way.
This weekend me and my family went off to Omaha where my Dad once walked the streets there as an alcoholic homeless man. We came with many items to give out to the homeless to help out a couple by the names of Dave and Robin. Each week they meet on Sundays at 11:30am at a street corner in downtown Omaha, Nebraska with a free meal to feed the homeless along with many items that are donated to give out to the people in need. Their mission is called Starfish Ministry, what a beautiful thing that they do. This man, Dave, once helped my father several times. Finally meeting him was amazing. He has written about meeting my Dad in his blog several times, we didn’t find this out until my Dad had passed. This website had become this great healing place for our family and friends to come to. It was always so hard knowing we could no longer do anything for my Dad, we all tried EVERYTHING. So finding out that he was surrounded by these beautiful people offering hope, prayer, love, and help gave so much peace to my heart.
Meeting all these people was so wonderful, they were all so loving and full of God’s love. We also got to meet some of my Dad’s friends that still struggle with many addictions themselves. But what has came out of this horrible loss and tragedy is God’s amazing unfailing love and faithfulness! God brought together all these people to come in the name of God to help others in need. Many of my family members and their churches have given to this cause. Being there seeing over 200 homeless people ages from old to so very young was such an eye opener to me and for the rest of my family. I did not feel uncomfortable there at all. I looked at all these people with love, and looked at them as belonging to a loving family, just as my Dad belonged to us, who all loved him so dearly. I looked at some of these people as being someone’s Father, brother, uncle, grandpa, son. These homeless people are just like us, they are people too. It felt so good to give and to be able to help them. Watching Aza was such a beautiful sight. I was so proud of her; she talked to so many of them, bringing smiles and laughter to several of these homeless people. I know that by not judging them and allowing my daughter to get close to them brightened up there day. I just can only hope we have planted some seeds with some of these lost people.
As hard as it was to be there knowing my Dad had once lived this sad life, it was healing at the same time. It is still hard to believe that my Dad once lived this life and that he actually lived on the streets like this, but my family and I are looking for God’s light in all this. Judging people is something that I have taken out of this. I know we are all too quick to judge people especially that homeless person that walks passed us on the streets. I am now looking towards God’s plan, and growing in his love and guidance in my life’s purpose here on earth. I have grown in God’s love so greatly and want to be a woman of God everyday. I know that God always has a plan for us, and sometimes these horrible tragedies he is trying to wake us up so to say.
Before heading home we made a stop at Lake Manahaw in Concil Bluffs, Iowa. Not exactly why we all had to see this but we all wanted to see the spot were my Dad took his last breathes here on earth. As we all walked up to the shore the only sounds were of the water splashing up on the rocks. Tears just feel uncontrollable. We all stood there looking into the water. All I could think was why? Why did this have to happen why couldn’t he just get better? All those questions will never be answered in this life time. It was so peaceful there, so beautiful. The sun was setting on the water and it couldn’t have been a better fall day. It really was peaceful but so emotional. But that same day we also meet a man who is with a ministry that helps with these homeless people too. He came up to our family and introduced himself and said that he had known Dad. What he told us gave me much peace in my heart. He told us that Dad had came to him in March and was broken and wanted to change and that he wanted God in his life again. That day he had given his life back to Christ and he told us that our father had been filled greatly with the Holy Spirit. Knowing that his heart was right with God before he left this world was truly a blessing to hear. I miss him so dearly and going to Omaha was somewhat of a closure thing or maybe some healing along with it. It still hurts thinking of him and knowing he is gone, but I know he is with God and is no longer suffering.
That Sunday I thank God for opening my eyes to the beauty he does within each one of us and His unfailing and undeserving Love.