Following the Wind

This is Ricky and Jerry. I met Ricky about 4 years ago when I spent the weekend under the bridge. He was 18 years old at the time and was living on the streets. That night some Pentecostals preached to him, prayed with him, and baptized him in the Robinson Auditorium fountain at about 2:00 am (it was a cool night; if you baptize a homeless person then they are wet and stay wet - but hey, he was entering the kingdom). He has a horribly sad story. No child should have to go through what he had to go through. Life has been hard for him. Jerry recently talked him down from the Main Street bridge.

I have known Jerry for a year or two. He told me tonight that it has been 115 days since he thought about killing himself. He is on his 9th month of sobriety. He himself was talked down from the Main Street Bridge. He has been off and on homeless. Two weeks ago, he qualified for a housing program through his mental health center. They will help him with his rent for the next year. He is letting Ricky stay with him. They had nothing.

But, the Spirit moves, undeterred, like the wind, and the hearts of the attentive and willing sense its direction and follow. It blew across Amy’s heart who donated a mattress, over the Reinhart’s who gave a chair and a couch, through Lora and her brother who offered some linen, and around Linda who provided some kitchenware. They did not know where the wind was blowing, just that it was. Last Tuesday night, it blew under the bridge and around an encounter with Jerry and Ricky. Tonight, it blew through a piece of the network of goodness and into Jerry’s apartment.

Tonight, Jerry and Ricky will prepare some food in their own kitchen. Tonight they will recline with some dignity on their own couch and chair. Tonight, Jerry will sleep in his new bed under his warm linen. May they sense the gentle Wind tonight and rest.

Close your eyes. Can you feel the wind? Where is it blowing now? Let’s follow it.