Heart Hope by Olga

It had been cold, gray and snowy all week. That’s the reason the homeless man had been sleeping on either the bench or the sofa in the lobby of my office building for the past 3 nights. It is a rare occasion due to the harsh winter elements in our small mountain community that we encounter anyone who is really homeless. Oh yes, we might see an occasional person who is just passing through, but not someone who lives here. That’s why my co-worker and true humanitarian, Wendy, was terribly disturbed when she discovered his situation. When she came to me to see what kind of input I might have to rectify the situation, I was reminded of the Bible study lesson earlier in the week, where the leader asked us where we might be able to serve Jesus in an illogical way. Was this my opportunity? If so, I didn’t want to miss it. A quick call was made to church to see if our office manager might be able to give us some suggestions. Her advice was to find out if he had any plans ...

Somehow they didn’t fit in the picture. He was missing most of the teeth in his mouth, she had on overdone makeup. There were backpacks and sleeping bags beside the middle-aged couple and their white furry dog. All of this was next to the side door at church on the cold gray fall Sunday morning.   They caught my attention enough for me to want to know more of their story. Since I make it part of my mission to make people feel welcome at my church, I stopped to visit with them. The conversation went something like this: Me: How are you? Them: Doing just great. Me: What a beautiful dog. Them: Her name is Glacier; she’s 14. Me: Are you just visiting or are you from around here? Them: We are just passing through—traveling from Boulder to California by walking and hitchhiking. In fact we just got into town last night and spent the night under the covered area at the back of the church. Me: It must have been cold last night. (The temperature was probably under ...

Having just moved to Boulder from Texas, I was not used to the drastic weather changes that could take place in just minutes in Colorado. I had been out running errands that day and had on a skirt, and short sleeve shirt with flip flops, but suddenly the winds brought in a cold front. Since I had only more stop to make that afternoon, I decided not to return home to change into warmer attire before stopping at First Presbyterian Church to drop off paperwork for an up coming event. Not being familiar with the building, I parked and ran into the closest door which was flung open by a greeter. The friendly man was shabbily dressed, missing teeth and scruffy from not shaving in recent days, but made me feel warm and welcome on that cold afternoon.  He quickly assessed that I was not dressed appropriately for the weather’s rapid transformation and made an assumption that made me laugh…but also think. The man presumed that I was there because I was homeless and needed to visit the clo...