fill us up and send us out

A couple of days ago it started raining some time after 10pm. I had been at my friend Ashley's house and was really tired. I decided that I would just go home and forget about giving out an umbrella that evening. When I got home, I decided to look up this song on YouTube that TaNeika had recommended. Some of the lyrics of the song include "we must go: live to feed the hungry, stand beside the broken; we must go." It inspired me to go ahead and go out. Other than the gentlemen that I ran into at the gas station, all of my other encounters had been on 4th Avenue at this point. 4th Avenue is a safe place to approach people. I'm very comfortable there.

So I started to head towards 4th Avenue, but the road was under construction and led me on a detour downtown. I felt that God was calling me to go somewhere else this time. I went to the bus station. At this point, it is eleven thirty at night and the buses stop running at midnight. There are just a hand-full of people sitting around. There are several security guards and policemen patrolling the area. I sat there for nearly ten minutes with no clue what to do. I began to pray that God would direct me. This security guard in his late twenties approach me. "Do you need to get on that bus? There are only two more buses that are coming by." I said, "oh no, thank you, I have my car over there." Looking a little startled and confused, his body jerked backward. I told him that I had come to find someone who needed an umbrella.

"Oh, it's okay. I understand. Sometimes I have things on my heart that I just have to go out and do, too. I think I know who you can give the umbrella to. He's sleeping over there against that wall. If you want I'll walk you over to make sure that it's safe."

He watched me as I walked across the street and woke the sleeping traveler. "Excuse me, sir. Do you need an umbrella?" "No." "Well do you know anyone who needs one?" "Probably someone over at the bus station." I strugged and went back over to the bus station. On my way back to the benches, I past a woman with a plastic sack. She was an older woman with worn clothes and red hair that showed grey roots. I asked her if she could use an umbrella. She said yes, but seemed confused, probably wondering what I wanted from her. I gave her the umbrella, said good bye to the kind security guard and went home.

The Gentlemen with the small radio

I haven't posted in a while, but that isn't from a lack of giving out umbrellas. So I will attempt to catch up. The last week of fall semester, there was a day that it monsooned. I bought an umbrella that I intended to give away after class. On my way to class, I stopped at a gas station to fill up. There was an african american gentlemen sitting under the lip of the roof up against the building. I felt that he needed the umbrella more than I needed it. I walked up to him. He had a black womens glasses with rhinestones on the sides and a small battery operated radio. I ask him if he needed an umbrella and he said he did. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk so I just left. On my short drive to class I dreaded going on the outdoor field trip. When I got to the meeting area I found out the field trip had been canceled due to the rain.