A Life-changing Encounter with a Homeless Man
During a very difficult time in my life, a random trip to buy some wine with my sister led to a chance encounter with a homeless man named Ron that (to this day) still holds a special place in my heart – more than 6 years later.
Ron may have been lacking in resources, but he was rich in character, in faith, and in spirit.
At the time I lived about 4 hours away from home while I was in University, and I was visiting my sister who lived about an hour and half away from home while attending McMaster University. There was a lot going on in my life, and I had gone to visit her in Hamilton to get away for a while.
We’d made this great plan for our day – make some bomb homemade chilli with garlic bread, and top it off with a tear-jerking rom-com and a nice glass of wine. As we were pulling up to LCBO, we see a homeless man playing his guitar for money right beside the entrance. My sister asks me if I have some change to give him and I instinctively say no, assuming of course that he’d just use the money to buy booze. She goes in to get the wine and when she finally emerges, wine in hand, we come to a consensus that we’ll bring him some food instead.
In retrospect, isn’t it crazy how we often seek to control how someone uses the resources we give them based on what we think they need? Whatever happened to giving for giving’s sake? What if what he needed was a pair of shoes or a blanket to keep warm? Yes, some homeless people might spend the money they get from kind strangers to buy drugs or alcohol, but not all of them do.
So we go back to my sister’s house and make a goodie bag with some chilli, a water bottle, an apple, and a hand-written note. Upon our return, Ron greeted us with a smile, and as he opened the note that read “Jesus hasn’t forgotten about you, He loves you,” his face beamed with joy and he began to open up about his life and his faith. We probably spent a good hour or more with him, chatting about God, life, and hope.
Misconceptions of how people become homeless
Many of us have been guilty in our assumptions of why someone is homeless. A common misconception is that they’re too lazy to work.
As Ron continued to share parts of his story, we found out that he used to have a good job, a car, a nice home, a wife, and kids. He became very ill and because it lasted a long time, he lost his job. With all the bills piling up, they lost their home too. His wife, having had enough of their tests and trials, left him and took the kids with her.
Contrary to popular belief when it comes to the cause of homelessness, it was Ron’s life circumstances that forced him into a life of financial instability, couch surfing, and sometimes having to beg for money on the streets to make ends meet. The way he told his story showed how much he took everything in stride, never forgetting that God still loves and provides for him, regardless of who’s couch he would be sleeping on that night.
So much for showing the love of Christ
As he recounted an experience of being turned away by a church, my heart sank for him. He used to play his guitar not far from the entrance until he was asked to leave because he “wasn’t well-dressed” and the church feared his presence would turn people off. His joyous demeanour diminished as he confessed that the old faded jacket he was wearing that day was the best he had, and that he didn’t have enough money to buy better shoes either.
In that moment, I’d found a new home for a pair of dress-shoes that I’d bought for an old boyfriend about a year prior that somehow never made it out of my trunk. And you guessed it, they fit him PERFECTLY.
Because my home church has a very “come as you are and God will meet you here” kind of culture that welcomes people from so many walks of life, it really hurts me to know that there are still churches out there that will turn someone away because of the way they look or how they’re dressed. Did they forget that Christ loved them out of their filth and their sin? Did they forget that Jesus showed love to the poor, the homeless, and the outcasts? Did they forget that part of our purpose here on earth is to spread the UNCONDITIONAL love of Christ?
A life lesson on perspective – it’s everything!
I may have been going through what still goes down in history as the roughest period of my life to date, but having an encounter with someone who had it 10 times worse than I did yet was still glowing with hope and filled with unwavering faith lifted my spirit more than he will ever know.
If you ever find yourself getting depressed over what may be going on in your life, my best advice would be to spend a day doing something for those less fortunate than you. Not in an effort to find company in your misery, but in an effort to connect with people who have it so much worse than you do in order to help you put your own plight into perspective.
To this day, I still daydream about finding Ron again, giving him a huge hug, and letting him know how greatly he impacted my life and my faith. One of the lessons he taught me was that everything in this life is fleeting and fades but putting your hope and faith in God keeps your head up and your spirits high. He also taught me that one of the best things you can do with your time is to use it to make someone else’s heart smile. The greatest legacy you can leave behind on this earth is one of having positively impacted the lives of those you encountered while you were here.
Makes you think doesn’t it.
Needless to say, to this day, I have a renewed compassion for people who find themselves without a place to call home.
Thank you for opening my eyes, Ron. Until we meet again.
The Giving Keys is an awesome initiative based in LA that gives homeless people messages of hope, and employs them as they transition. Check them out!
