I sing at a church in Santa Monica every Saturday morning. Well, this morning, I noticed a homeless man sitting in the back of the church. He looked... well... to put it plainly: dirty, drugged out, and quite frightening. For some reason, his presence really bothered me, so I leaned over and asked a fellow worship team member if the church had previously had incidences with homeless people. She confirmed my worries, and recounted the times when people had to be escorted out of the building.
Not even 2 minutes later, mid church service praise time, the homeless man stands up, walks down the aisle, up the stage steps and right to me (why no one intervened, I'm not sure, but that's a different issue). The homeless man, in dirty, tattered clothes, tattoos covering his whole face, and the rest of his scary appearance stood and stared at me in front of the whole congregation. Then he proceeded to gift me with wood peace sign he had carved. I said thank you, he walked down the stairs and out of the church.
Thoughts on this experience? First of all, I don't think I have ever felt so scared and weirded out in my whole life. Secondly, how quick was I to judge this man's intentions... I automatically assumed he was going to harm me. Thirdly, I feel touched that this man chose me as a recipient of his kindness. I have no idea who the man is, what his story is, or where he'll end up, but I will never forget his little gesture of peace.
2 comments:
wow. thats amazing and odd and totally inspiring. miss you.
This is a really cool story. Thanks for sharing that!
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