Have you been “hit on” for Christmas?

     

The morning felt scattered. I was running late and I drove into the church parking lot sliding through the six inches of snow that had fallen over night.  Nothing was plowed yet.  I grumbled.  Grabbing my random things, I slid from my seat to the snowy carpet and slammed the door behind me.  I was rummaging for the keys to the church door when I saw him walking toward me. 

He was a dark figure, tall and thin wearing a black long coat that was ripped under the arm and had no buttons.  He wore a tattered watch cap and canvas sneakers.  He had no gloves and no teeth.  I knew him from a previous encounter.

I thought to myself, “Oh no.  Not now.  I don’t have any small bills to give him.”  I knew it was what he wanted.  I tried to pretend he wasn’t there and walked determinedly toward the steps to the side door.  I heard him call to me in a raspy voice… “Hey… Hey…  lady… wait…”  Was that God calling me?  Not now.

I turned to him and we recognized each other.  I had given him some money earlier in the fall when the weather was warm and I had a few dollars in my side pocket.  It wasn’t a hassle.  Now it’s a hassle.  So I told him I didn’t have any money.  That was a lie.  I had a $20 bill in my wallet, which reminds me of an episode back when my kids were little and I did give away a twenty dollar bill.  That’s another story for another time and it’s now over forty years later. 

I started to walk away from him and darn if my heart didn’t pump out a little bit more love.  And that conscience sitting on the tip of my shoulder said to me… “But it’s Christmas!”  So I stopped and looked at him.  He had a scruffy grey and black beard, and blurry dark eyes that squinted from the wind-driven snow.  He didn’t smile at me and his mouth was now shut so I couldn’t see his missing teeth anymore.  I wondered who he might have been years ago.  He actually reminded me of one of the kings in my Christmas manger set.

“I’ve got some loose change in my car and I’ll give it to you.”  He stood behind me as I unlocked the door and reached over and grabbed for the handful of change.  “Here.” I put the fistful of coins into the palm of his hand and our skin touched.  He was cold and his hands were dry and chapped.  “I don’t know how much this is but you should get a cup of coffee out of it.”  He thanked me walked away with his coat flapping in the wind.

I thought about him off and on that day and reminded God about the time I had given the twenty dollars away all those years ago.  So it’s okay that today I didn't give it away.  Then later that day I stopped at a drive-through for coffee and reached into the car cup for change.  It was gone and I had to use the twenty dollar bill.  I mentioned to the attendant that I had just given all my change away to a homeless guy.  She handed me my coffee and about $18 and said… “Well only God knows what he’ll do with it.”

She was right.