There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.
- Deuteronomy 15:11
The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.
- Mark 14:7
He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.
- Proverbs 10:5
We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15
In you, Lord my God,
I put my trust.
I trust in you;
do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
No one who hopes in you
will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
who are treacherous without cause.
Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
- Psalms 25:1-5
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
- Psalm 130:5-8
Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.
- Psalm 131:3
Boilerplate
I’m Harold Dykstra. I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story. My time is well spent. A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel. I did not know she was an angel at the time. The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone. And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy. She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others. She changed my life. Since she was a doll that had come to life, we came up with the term ‘other living.’ She was not human, an animal, or even a plant, but she was definitely living, and very vibrant. Oh, excuse me, angels have no gender, but the angel indwelled a doll named Bountiful Babs. After seeing the angel in that form for over a year, I cannot see her in my mind in any other form.
This Week’s Question
In the last episode, Babs sought the light.
A few days later when I got back from another very successful sales call, I found Babs in bed. She already had her T-shirt and boxers on.
I asked, “Babs, is anything wrong? Are you sick?”
“No,” she sniffled. “Okay, maybe. Maybe I am just sick of this world. It is upside down. You were probably making a million-dollar deal with folks that could not recite the Lord’s Prayer, and then there are people who are starving right outside the hotel. It would not take a million dollars to feed those people, but it seems no one cares. And look, look, I’m broken again. My eyes are leaking.”
I suggested, “We’ve been over that before. You are not broken. You are sad and you are crying.”
Babs looked me in the eyes. There was pain there. “I like my way of saying it better. I’m broken because this world is broken.”
I went over and took her hands and helped her to her feet. We hugged for a while and said nothing.
I suggested that we skip supper, but she suggested that we could order a pizza. I liked that idea. I would have to stay dressed, but I could get rid of the necktie.
We sat at our little table under the lamp. She lounged in the easy chair, and I rolled the desk chair over and opened my Bible. “So, what happened today?” I asked.
She smiled and looked at the ceiling. “It was a crisp day, but there was a beautiful blue sky. We had driven past a park yesterday, and I thought I could walk there and have lunch. I did not have much to eat, but I thought a picnic would be nice. As I got to the edge of the park, there was this man sitting on a park bench, staring out into space. I looked down at him and I asked if he was okay. He looked up and said, ‘If I have died and gone to heaven, I must be doing really well.’ I laughed and said that I thought he was still here on earth. He slumped his shoulders and stared at his shoes. I asked if he needed anything. He said that he needed a lot, but he trusted in God. Then he quoted Psalms 25:1-5. Then he asked, ‘Are you God’s messenger?’ I said that I was just in the park to have a picnic. He said picnics were not the things that one person does, so I offered him the bagel and the peanut butter that I had taken from the breakfast area to have for lunch. He looked at my empty hands and started to break the bread in two. I told him only a small piece. I told him I had to watch my figure. He nodded, but I think he understood. We talked some more. He quoted more Scripture. I am sure one of them was Psalm 130:5-8. I asked him if he had a lot of sins, but he just shrugged. Then he said, ‘God paid the price for those sins a long time ago.’ Harold, why was such a nice man, who knew his Bible, homeless in the park?”
I shrugged, “There are as many stories as there are homeless people in the park. He could have lost his job. He may have a home, but his wife kicked him out. Then, there is the thought that Jesus was in the park and you chose to help Him.”
She scrunched her nose. “I don’t think the last one is right. I did not see a ring, so maybe he wasn’t married. If he had lost his job, it might have been quite some time ago. If we went back to find him, do you think we could offer him a night in the hotel?”
I shrugged, “I suppose, but some homeless people get very jittery with a roof over their head. Let’s have a little Bible study and then we can go look for the guy. By then, the pizza will be delivered, and we can share that too.”
Babs asked, “What are we going to study?”
I said, “How about a Bible study about ‘Hope.’ The two psalms that you said he quoted were both talking about our hope being found in God. So, where do you want to start?”
Babs smiled, but then she frowned. “Harold, even Jesus said we will always have the poor. How can we have hope with one of the biggest problems in the world being unsolvable?”
“Unsolvable?” I asked. “You keep telling me how awesome God is and how God can do anything.”
Babs sighed, “But if Jesus said that we will always have the poor, and He is God…” She shrugged and raised her palms toward Heaven.
I shook my head, “You definitely got the mopes today. Let’s go back to what Jesus said and why He said it. He was changing the subject. The disciples, or maybe just one disciple, was focusing on cash flow and an immediate need, while Jesus was looking at the big picture. He was about to die on the cross. And then about forty days later leave this earth in bodily form. That should have been their focus, preparing themselves with what comes next. But Jesus was also quoting Deuteronomy 15:11. And what does that verse say after it says we will always have the poor?”
Babs smiled, “We should be open-handed. Does that mean we should give someone our peanut butter sandwich?”
I snickered, “Absolutely. And when it comes to being poor, we have a lot of people who are content with having very little. The man you talked to said that he was content in the Lord. We might not like the lifestyle, but he might like it. There are people with mental problems that do not like being confined inside walls. And there are others that would love to be in a house. But Proverbs 10:5 says that the person who does not harvest the crops and sleeps instead is disgraceful. Some of it is our choices. Some is cultural. And sadly, some people could improve their lives, but they do not. As I said before, there is a story for as many people as you will find who are homeless. But notice what King David says in 1 Chronicles 29:15. The span of our life on earth is so short, we hardly cast a shadow between the time we are born and we die. That is David’s poetic style, but he is not far wrong. And David says that our existence has no real hope, that is, hope in this world. Their ancestors came to the Promised Land and occupied it. And now, David had gathered much of the building materials that Solomon would use to build the temple. There was hope there. God would have a structure in which people could come and worship Him. No more tents for almighty God. But that does not change the fact that we are born, and we soon die and most of us are not missed afterwards, more than a few tears. My wife will be missed by a few at church. Even when she was on the road with me, she called people to keep in touch, but they will not build a statue in her honor.”
Babs looked me in the eyes. “But what are you saying our Hope is? It is in the Lord, but what do we hold onto?”
I smiled, “My dear, sweet, Babs, when we have someone to hold onto, like me and you, we can do that. But I did that with my wife and now she is gone to be with Jesus. I would rather be where she is than to ever ask God to bring her back to me for only a day. Our hope is indeed in the Lord. He will help us with today and tomorrow. But then when it is our time, we have a mansion awaiting us on the other side of that veil between this world and the next. But here and now, we have hope in the Lord for our well-being, our provision, and our emotional and mental well-being. Now, where is that pizza guy?”
At that moment, the room phone rang. He was in the lobby. Babs said for me to get the pizza and wait for her, and we would go to the park after she got dressed.
When we got to the park, her homeless man was on one knee, praying with another homeless guy. We waited for him to be finished.
Babs said, “Hi! I’m back. I brought my travel buddy and pizza.”
The man brightened. He said, “There’s a picnic table over there. This is going to be a legitimate picnic.” We all laughed. And over a pizza, he told us how his calling was in that park. He had talked people down from committing suicide. He had led people to Jesus. And when the night temperature was below freezing, he had a shelter that would take him in for the night. He could get a bath. He could wash his clothing. He might even pick up a couple of pairs of socks. Our offer to pay for a night in the hotel was tempting, but he saw some people that he had to talk to. His work would not be finished that night.
On the way back to the hotel, Babs said, “When we first talked, all I could think about was how cold he would get when the weather changed and how wonderful a nice long shower feels. Now I envy him. He has people that he cares about. He has a calling, and he saves lives by introducing them to the One who does the saving. What do you think, Harold?”
I smiled. I grabbed her arm in mine as we walked together. “I admit. I like my creature comforts, but as he was talking to people about Jesus in the park, I could see myself doing that. Maybe change the setting a little, but, yes, in a way, I envy him too. No stuff that keeps you from doing what God desires of you. You just follow Jesus and see where it takes you.”
Babs leaned her head against my arm. “Yep, and someday, I think you will find your park. Who knows, it might be an entire city.” And little did I know how right she was, just all the food banks in the city.
Credits
All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife. We would talk about anything and everything. And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.
In thinking of helping the poor, I was on an off ramp on the interstate highway. This exit had a lot of one-legged veterans asking for money, at least most of the time. My wife told me to roll down the window and stop. I said, “I just spent the last of my cash for lunch.” She said that she only had a five-dollar bill. I stopped and gave the guy all the money that we had. As we went to the store, I laughed. She wanted to know what was funny. I said, “We have money in the bank and debit cards to get more cash, but that little routine at the exit proves that if we ever had our last five-dollar bill, you would give it away.” And I really think she would have. I haven’t seen those guys at that exit lately. They may have gone south for the winter, but the local police may have cracked down on panhandling. We will always have the poor, but our hearts should go out to them rather than expecting the government to “fix” the problem. Maybe one of those panhandlers is Jesus testing our faith, testing our willingness to love our neighbor. Well, my wife would have passed that test.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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