Thankful!

So yesterday was a normal Sunday for the Laney clan. By normal, I mean the usual Sunday morning activities. All revolving around our normal downtown activities. Robin whipped up a mess of sloppy joes. Actually, she used ground turkey, so technically, they were sloppy toms? Enough to feed at least 150 of our friends. People donated and made potato salad by the buckets. Tater chips, lemonade, Panera pastries, and cookies from the Wal-Mart just to be sure we had enough. Stuff like that. We had lots of clothing donations last week also.

One fellow, Chris, who works as a conductor at Union Pacific, donated his late father’s entire wardrobe to our cause. This is not the first time this has happened. In fact, if I recall correctly, this is the third time that someone has donated the clothing of their father to our cause. Now let me tell you something. I spent some time Thursday afternoon in a fellows apartment who passed away recently at the ripe old age of 54. Mr. Galvan. I believe his first name was Dean. I met his son at his place and we proceeded to load our van with the remainder of his father’s clothing, shoes, etc. As we are looking at his dad’s stuff, you can’t help but have a variety of really strange thoughts. I mean, this is someone’s life we are looking at here. Deep. He died recently from cancer. 54 years young. That is 10 years older than me. 10 years can pass by in a flash. I look at my life and wonder what the heck I’ve done for 43 years. What will my legacy be? Does it really matter? Mr. Galvan lived very modestly from my brief and cursory look at his belongings. He was an ex-marine, an avid Cornhusker fan and apparently, lived just above the poverty level. I don’t know for sure, but it seems you can tell a lot about a person by the way they lived their life. And when it’s all said and done and only the stuff remains, what will your story tell? Another family recently donated their father’s stuff to us also. In this case, the daughter worked at UP also and she simply brought his stuff in bags to work and we made the transfer at our respective cars. All of his remaining clothing in a few large plastic bags. Several large bags, but according to her, that was it. What remains of our existence when all the stuff is gone? And yet another person did the same thing back in December. A person who works in the Marketing department at Union Pacific noticed my ad on the electronic bulletin board at work. “Needed - men’s clothing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.” It’s that simple. And it gets responses. Sherry called me one morning back in December. At the time, we had only been at this about a month or so. Man have we learned a lot in 6 months. Man do we have a lot to learn! So Sherry calls and says even though she rarely looks at the board, she noticed the ad and wanted to donate her father’s clothing. He was a crane operator here in Omaha and had passed away about a year earlier. She was finally ready to part with his clothing and would we be interested? I have to tell you how odd it is to see the entire wardrobe of a fellow and wonder what his life must have been like? Especially the last few years. Now these folks were a little better off. Nicer house in the western part of the city. As we sat and chatted that evening with Sherry and her mom, it became apparent that her father had a heart for the less fortunate. He volunteered at local missions. Did things of that nature. So this was a pretty good match. Our fledgling ministry. Their desire to find the right place to donate his remaining things. Recently Sherry told me her mother was downtown and was searching to see if her late husband’s clothing was anywhere in sight. It’s not hard to spot the homeless guys in downtown Omaha. They hang out in the park pretty much all the time. I think she was disappointed not to see any of his things, but I assured her that they went to a good cause.

At Mr. Galvan’s apartment, things were in pretty much disarray, as you would expect. Boxes lying about. Furniture in odd places. Just very unsettling to go in after the fact and see someone’s remaining things in that state. So as I’m sorting through Mr. Galvan’s things yesterday in my garage, I’m having all sorts of feelings. What were his last days like? When was the last time he maybe wore one of the many hats his son so generously donated to our cause? The guys who will be the beneficiaries of these things have no idea where this stuff comes from. They just know that they have little clothing to call their own and here’s a chance for them to pick up a few things with no strings attached. I mention this often. I don’t ever want to be consumed with the stuff we bring down. But here’s a question for ya. What if, for some reason, today was your last day? What story would your stuff tell? Lord help me with mine! I shudder to think what story my stuff would tell. If a stranger were to come in and sort through the things I would leave behind? I mean, it’s not like there is some sordid thing lurking that I don’t want anyone to know about. But it is a little creepy, nonetheless. You know what I mean? Just a few things to think about.

So what happens when a homeless guy leaves this gigantic ball of dirt? We haven’t had to deal with anything like that yet. It’ll happen though. We’ve heard of a fellow who passed out in the elements last winter and died of exposure. We didn’t know him though. We did know a fellow who had the same thing happen, but he was rescued before the inevitable happened. He “only” lost a couple of toes to frostbite. “Only”. It forced him to look at things a little differently though. That’s for sure. If I understand him correctly, he hasn’t had a drink since that fateful day. It’s a start, but it’s a shame that something so preventable had to happen. So what of a homeless guy who passes away? Who gets the backpack? Lots of times, all their worldly goods can be carried in a single backpack. Pretty perplexing if you ask me.

I have to tell you this also. We had people donate men’s suits to us last week. I hung them on a tree branch along with all the other buckets of clothing that we brought down. Someone took a couple of them. It never ceases to amaze me what these guys need or want. I have given up on trying to assume I might know. I have no idea. If you have something, somebody down there needs it. I remember one of the first weeks we were doing this. Someone donated a men’s suit to the cause. I hung it in my garage with all the other stuff we had and wondered why in the world a person would donate a suit to a cause such as this. I even made a comment in the garage that Sunday along those lines. What in the world would a homeless guy need a suit for? Well the person who donated the suit just happened to be helping us that week. She just happened to be in the garage when I made that comment. Jackie, if by some chance you read this blog, I apologize for that stupid comment. I had no idea what these folks needed. I thought I did. I don’t. Heck, I have no idea what I need, much less these guys we are so humbled and honored to serve. Anyway, they need suits. What for? Job interviews? I don’t know. Whatever. They need ‘em. Or at least, they can use them.

So three gentlemen. 3 drastically different sets of circumstances. Lots of guys downtown that benefit from the generosity of others. And I mean much generosity from lots of people. All over. Donations from a great lady in Philadelphia. From Boise Idaho. From Anniston Alabama. From right here in Omaha. What an amazing ministry we have been blessed with. What an array of feelings sometimes. From going through the belongings of a fellow who recently passed away to walking up 14 flights of stairs at work because a guy on the 18th floor has a check he wants to donate. I know, there are elevators, but I am just blown away by the amazing things that are happening in this thing God has placed in front of us. Amazing. And yesterday, Rosemary brought tomato plants. TOMATO PLANTS!!! Rosemary saw our story a few weeks ago on the local news. She has been faithfully joining us on Sundays ever since. So yesterday? She brings a half dozen or so tomato plants. I see guys heading back to the shelter with their Big Boys, or whatever kind they were. Homeless guys walking away with suits and tomato plants? You tell me. What a deal!

So today is Memorial Day. Lots to be thankful for. Primarily that we live in a country where God is alive and well. That we are allowed to congregate on a corner in downtown Omaha and share the love of Christ with our brothers and sisters who share that corner with us. That people have given their lives so that we can do this sort of thing every Sunday. We are truly blessed to be in this situation. That a fellow like Dean Galvan served his time as a Marine so that we could enjoy the freedoms we are so blessed to have. We are so blessed. Thanks be to God and to all those who serve and who have served this great land of ours. And thanks to all those who serve in this ministry in any way, shape or form. God bless you!

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

…”it matters to that one”… :)