Today, as I was getting ready for my day, it occurred to me that I have very few places to interact with persons I don’t know. So I took my laptop to Kaldi’s to work on my sermon for this coming Sunday.
At one point around lunch time, I had to go feed my parking meter, and two homeless guys stopped me. They asked me for cash and – as I only had a few quarters – I told them I didn’t have any money, but that I would buy them lunch.
They refused.
Which made me sad, because I would’ve liked the chance to get to know them a little better. But if you’re not hungry, you’re not hungry.
I’ve traditionally been a sucker for people begging on the street. The bigger the sob story, the more I’ll give. I’m learning to be more discerning, and to think of ways to meet at least immediate needs, far beyond just giving money.
I’ll keep you updated on how that’s going. Clearly, I’m having a rough start.
