ChooseaNeed

You know how when you go to a good southern home the hosts will throw open the door and great you with a big hug and a smile that stretches from Georgia to North Carolina? They always follow that with a big hearty, “Welcome, we are so glad you are here!”

I had a similar experience with God earlier this year:

I used to park in the same parking spot everyday in the parking lot across the street from my office. Space number 19. It backs up to a concrete pad that has a fence containing public utility monitoring equipment. The pad juts out just enough that a person can lay down there. Everyday on my way into work I would pull into my spot and there was a homeless man sleeping there right at the back of my spot on this ledge. This went on for 3 or 4 months.

In the middle of January on a cold Friday night this homeless person approached me and asked if I might walk with him down the hill to the Checker’s Fast Food Restaurant and buy him some dinner. I don’t normally give the homeless of Atlanta money for various reasons but his request was for food not for money so I was a bit intrigued. I did not have any cash on me and I was a little wary of whipping out my credit card in front of a homeless person. I was not passing judgement, but trying to be careful.

I told him that I was sorry I didn’t have any money on me and got in my Expedition to drive away when I realized that my Grandparents had given me a $5 McDonald’s Gift Certificate for Christmas. To put this in perspective, my Grandparents have given me a $5 McDonald’s Gift Certificate for Christmas 25 years in a row. It has become my favorite Christmas present every year. They have given me Guitars, Clothes, computers, TV’s, Microwaves, and a whole host of much more expensive gifts in my life, but it wouldn’t be Christmas without my Grandfather trying to figure out a new way to disguise the Gift Certificate.

I stopped the car reached in my pocket and said, “Hey, I just remembered that I have this gift certificate to McDonald’s. Do you think you could use it? It’s only five bucks.” I can’t remember for sure but I am almost certain that his eyes welled up with tears as I passed him the gift certificate. He introduced himself as Rick and I got out of the car and shook his hand and said, “My name is Austin.” As I got in my car to drive home I realized that I had just given away my favorite Christmas present and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than that. Knowing my Grandparents the way I do, I know that they would have been so proud for me to give away my present to a complete stranger who needed it more than I did. I thought that the story might end there, but it didn’t.

On Tuesday of the next week I had a concert to attend and my roommate David and I walked from my office to the concert and then back after the show. On the way home I was walking and looking at the ground and saw a $10 bill lying there. So I picked it up and put it in my pocket. When I got to the parking lot where my car was parked, Rick called out from the Shadows:

Rick: “Austin, they was here!”
Me: “Who was here?”
Rick: “The people that break into the cars in these parking lots!”
Me: “Where are they now?”
Rick: “I chased them off and I decided to wait here to make sure your car was okay.”
Me: “Thanks, Rick!”

I talked a few minutes more with Rick and I gave him the $10 in my pocket that I had found on the street and he gave me a big hug. This was an experience I will not forget. Here was a 50 year old homeless man standing in a parking lot with a 25 year-old kid with a Masters Degree in Accounting and a job at the largest accounting firm in the world….HUGGING!

I realized at that moment that I was ministering to the least of these. The story continues three days later I saw Rick in the Parking lot after work. I had heard reports that the weather was going to get really cold the next week and I asked Rick if he could use a sleeping bag. He said, “Man that would be great!” I told him that I would bring him a sleeping bag on Monday.

I went home and decided to go to Target and buy him a cheap sleeping bag, but quickly realized that if it got really cold a little Target sleeping bag wasn’t going to work. On Monday I went to work and after work I pulled out my sleeping bag from my car and gave it to him and he was so appreciative. I brought the sleeping bag that I gave Rick while I was in college in North Carolina. This is a NICE sleeping bag….holds up in temperatures as low as 20 degrees. This is the sleeping bag that got me through NC State Basketball Camp-Out.

Later that week Rick came running up after work and told me that he had used the $10 I gave him to go to the doctor’s office where he got his paperwork that declared him disabled and unable to work. This is why he was homeless. He then was able to take his paperwork down to an organization downtown that set him up with a place to live and gave him money to buy sheets and pillows and the other necessities of life.

I haven’t seen Rick since that day. I don’t know if he is still in the group home or not. I assume he is because I haven’t heard from him. I am sure he knows where he can come if he finds himself without a home again.

This was the moment that God threw open the door and said, “Welcome to the world, Austin, I am so glad you are here!” Until that point I had been on mission trips and I had seen hurting people, but I had never let myself become involved. I helped with a detached heart. With Rick, however, I threw my whole self into helping him. I was a cheerful giver. For the first time in my life I realized the world is a lot bigger than me.

How does this apply to your life, you may be asking. Well, that is where ChooseaNeed comes in to play. I am on the board of directors for this non-profit organization. I hope that you will go by the website (www.chooseaneed.org) and take a look at what we are doing. If you can’t choose one of the needs you see on our site, then please, choose a need somewhere.