hot chocolate

this past week i had the opportunity to help some people in NYC. one of the jobs we did was to help a portable soup kitchen. they had renovated an old school bus, turned it into a soup kitchen on wheels. they would pull up and just give away soup, bread and hot chocolate. these people were regulars. the guys that worked the bus knew several of them.

one man was named tony. tony was drunk, and high. he looked on the verge of collapse. steve, who worked regularly at the soup kitchen, pulled me over and pointed to a crack in the wall. "that is where tony lives," he said. tony used to be a cop, but then 9/11 happened and he fell apart. tony was so hurt by the massive loss of life, the massive pain he felt, he turned to heroine and alcohol. tony barely knows who he is now. this is one of casualties of the spiritual war going on around us. hearing about tony was the low point in my day. what good is there in such suffering?

an hour or so later, we were almost out of hot chocolate. i handed out the last full cup. and as i did so, another man walked up and wanted some. "sorry sir, we're out." the man was very disappointed. then something wonderful happened. the man that got the last cup poured half of his hot chocolate into another cup and shared. this man had nothing, he was homeless himself, he had every reason to horde and to take all he could, but he in his poverty shared.

there is much to hurt about in the world, and each of us is in pain, but the grace of god is that we can share the bountiful goodness of him. we in our poverty can share the free gift god has given us. there is no law against this.