Here in San Francisco, there are people everywhere. It’s very different from home. I live in an apartment complex and have only seen 2 of my neighbors, ever!
With people being everywhere, there are also homeless people everywhere. They typically keep to themselves and everyone else just ignores them.
I took my dog for a walk this morning when a homeless man, outside of our apartment complex, asked if I can maybe give him some water. He looked very dehydrated, and given my history of working with ministries that serve the homeless, I agreed. I told him to stay put, I’ll put my dog away, and return with water.
I grabbed a bag we got from hot pot the other night for leftovers. I filled it up with some fruit, some Gatorade, a juice, and some cliff bars. I don’t have plastic water bottles so I filled up a coffee cup with ice and water for him, thinking he can take the cup and fill it up wherever he might find water. I had my husband come out with me, just in case my ignorance were being taken advantage of.
This man was waiting outside the apartment complex. I handed him the water, and before grabbing it, he pulled his sweater sleeve over his hand to take the cup. I assume he was wanting to give the cup back. I let him know to just keep it so he can fill it up later. I then handed him the bag of goodies and he just stared at me, wide-eyed.
“I can’t take all this ma’am. I only wanted water”
“Don’t you worry about it. There’s some sweet stuff in here to take care of your blood sugar on a hot day. Some fruit, some dry foods so they don’t spoil. Please take this and if you don’t want it, feel free to share with other people!”
He continued to stare at me and then down to the water mug, and then to the bag. Some thing on the bag caught his eye.
“Where did you get that bag?”
“Oh! We had dinner at this place the other night and they gave this to us for leftovers. It’s pretty sturdy”
He continued to look from the goodies, to the mug, to the outside of the bag.
We had some more back and forth of him not wanting all of this, and me saying to just take it. I held out the bag to him again.
“Is that the lamb of Christ on the bag?”
I looked down at the bag, there sure is a lamb on there. A little white lamb.
“That is a lamb! Strange”
The homeless man looked up at me like something had just hit him hard. He turned around and walked away, just a few steps, then turned around and came back.
I asked him to take the goodies again. He made me a deal. He was going to give me the mug back if he took the bag. I asked him to take it all but he refused, so I accepted the trade and he went on his way.
I wonder what was going through his mind when he saw the lamb.
