A DAY WITH A MAN WITH NOTHING

I spent today with a man who has nothing.

Eric (not his real name) called me at 7 A.M. Saturday morning. 

“Where’d you sleep last night, Eric?”

“Outside the Church of Latter Day Saints.”

“You got some clothes to change into?”

“Just what I’m wearing.”

“When’d you eat last?”

“Been a couple of days.”

“Where are you calling me from?”

“A pay phone.”

“Where in crap did you find an actual, working pay phone?”

Now before you recite the clichés about “those people” let me point out a couple or three things.  Eric’s doesn’t get food stamps, or SSI/disability. He’s not on section 8, or Medicare, or Medicaid.   He doesn’t panhandle. He didn’t bum off family.  He’d gotten a full time job; and because he didn’t have a car, he walked several miles to and from work.  After work and on weekends he picked up all the odd jobs he could find in the neighborhood.  He ate what he could buy.  He lived where he could afford. He joined a church.  He did everything we say he is supposed to do as a good American capitalist.

And it worked.  Last month Eric wasn’t really homeless.  “Not really homeless.” That’s what we call it because technically he had a place to live.  Sure the only place he could afford had no electricity, no water, at least 8 transient occupants any given day, and both the ownership and legality of occupancy was vague, but the place had 4 walls and a roof and he ought to be thankful for that.  Eric was thankful.

But then somebody (probably one of his housemates) snuck up behind him as he was walking home on payday and cut his throat.  They literally sliced his neck from ear to ear.  The doctors don’t know how the razor missed the big arteries and veins. 

I went to see him a couple of days after the attack.  He strained the staples in his neck trying to tell me what happened but he caught the blood in a towel that he pressed against his open throat.

He couldn’t work.  He lost his job.  His i.d. and all of his clothes went missing from the house. For some reason he started drinking again.

This is where you can recite the clichés about how those people make too many excuses.

A few days after getting out of the hospital, Eric was “really” homeless.  Since then he’s bounced from place to place, emergency room to shelter, abandoned house to Mormon church  doorway.  He called me Saturday because, “I can’t do it on my own.  I need help.”

I spent that morning on the phone.  I spent today today driving around getting Eric a shower and a belt for the clothes I ironed and gave him out of my closet.  We followed up on possible programs and lots of referrals to somewhere else because he doesn’t have Medicare or Medicaid or private insurance or money.

This is where you recite the clichés about the socialist evils of universal healthcare.

The workday came and went without me doing anything I’d planned when I left the office Friday.   But I bought my friend Eric lunch.  (He actually ordered steak, but I did say “Whatever you want.”)  Tonight, he has a safe, air-conditioned place to sleep, a new network of wonderful people in the Montgomery non-profit community, and a certified plan to get sober and back to pursuing the American dream.

His situation isn’t typical, but it is normal.  There are men like him all over our community and yours.   They have screwed up their lives with alcohol, drugs, dropping out, and getting arrested; but they still believe in the American dream.  They believe that if they sacrifice and work hard and do what we tell them to do then they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and achieve all of their goals.  Because this is America, goshdarnit!

They believe that.  They really do.

You know the stories of extraordinary men and women went from nothing all by themselves, the extraordinary people who made a decision to improve themselves and never looked back. Those stories are extraordinary, i.e., they're not normal.  NORMALLY when a man, like Eric, has nothing in this sinful world and he tries to do better on his own, then somebody comes along and takes what little he does  Normally, he can’t do it on his own.  He needs help.

The only way any of the Erics has a chance at becoming what we tell them they’re supposed to become is if the you’s and me’s are willing to spend some time and money on men and women who have nothing. 

It’s exhausting, and annoying, and not cheap. (Did I mention the steak?)  You’ve got other things to do, and you’ve got a head full of clichés to excuse you.

I guess this is where I should make some profound point. 

Eric is the profound point. 

The man who has nothing is A MAN.   A man Jesus thought was worth dying for.

What’s he worth to you?

Lord, when did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ (Matthew 25: 38-40)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

#Awordtothewise

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

REMEMBER THE RACCOON

Last month a raccoon died in Toronto, Canada. 

It made the news.

It wasn’t a toxic raccoon, a pet raccoon, or a raccoon from a move, or the beloved attraction at a local zoo.  Just a regular raccoon.  Around 9 A.M., Someone discovered the creature’s body on a sidewalk.  They called the city of Toronto, and someone there said they’d send someone from Animal Services to remove the thing.  No one came.  All day and into the night people passed by the dead raccoon. 

They took pictures. 

They tweeted about it.

They made phone calls.

They ranted about the city’s lack of response.

People spent time and real money creating a mock memorial.

 

You know what no one did?

No one scooped the dead raccoon up off the street.

A shovel, a trash bag, and 2 minutes to toss it in a dumpster.  10 minutes to bury it in a backyard.  The photo-shopping, printing, and matting on the framed picture definitely took longer than that.

But, this  is who we are.  We are a series of cities filled with people who can launch a website in under an hour but can’t move a dead raccoon.  We can choreograph a flash mob singing “Uptown Funk” in Grand Central Station, but we can’t move a dead raccoon.  We want freedom and privacy, but we need the combined resources of a major metropolitan municipal government to move a dead raccoon.

We are so pitiful.

We’re like Jesus’ disciples in Luke 9.   Jesus and His disciples had retreated to a deserted area to debrief and relax after their first evangelistic mission, but the crowds found them and Jesus, moved by their needs, spent the day preaching and healing people.  By the end of the day, Jesus and the disciples were looking out at 5,000+ exhausted and hungry people scattered over the countryside.

The disciples accurately discerned the problem in their makeshift community, and they collectively advised Jesus to outsource the solution. 

This was the city’s problem. A charity should handle this.  Perhaps there was an NGO or local non-profit that could address the problem.  Better yet, these people should go and seek relief in the private sector.

“Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” (Luke 9: 12)

Get them together, Jesus. Educate them on their problem.  And send them to somebody else for help.

In Matthew’s account, Jesus responded, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” (Matthew 14: 16)

Dude, you see the raccoon lying there. Move it.

The disciples counted their treasury and polled the 5,000+ population for support.  They came up waaay short (Mark 6: 37).  But they pooled what woefully insufficient resources they had gathered and brought it to Jesus. (Luke 9: 13b)

They organized the people into smaller groups and got to work (Luke 9: 14).  Miraculously, with God’s blessing, it worked.  The needs were met, and the disciples each had lunch for the next day. 

So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them. (Luke 9: 17)

It took the government of Toronto 14 hours to send a city employee to remove the dead raccoon. It didn’t take 14 hours, but it took 14 hours.

Our government has the capacity to solve your communities’ unemployment, crime, education, infrastructure, obesity, and litter problems. 

But will they?  And if they do, how long will it take?

Probably longer than it would take you and me to do incredible work with insufficient resources. 

Jesus started Christianity with a core group of 4 failed fishermen, a tax agent who quit his job, a couple of frustrated militants (zealots), a pessimist, and a few others who were so un-remarkable that the four gospel writers can barely keep their names straight.

What amazing things could you or I do with Jesus’ blessing our inadequate resources and un-remarkable congregations?

Let’s find out.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

#Awordtothewise

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

HANDICAPPED PARKING

My wife Sheila will not park in a handicapped spot.  She won’t sit in a wheelchair, nor will she lean on someone else’s crutches or cane.  She has this semi-superstition that if she acts like she needs the help then God will make it so she really needs it.

Other people don’t share Sheila’s apprehension----like the driver in the picture above.  I think that if you asked the driver why he took the handicapped spaces, he’d say what an associate once told me when I asked why his able-bodied tail parked in handicapped spaces. 

He said, “It’s a good spot, and I’m in a hurry.”

And that’s why King David of the Old Testament parked in a handicapped spot.

Let me explain.

In 1 Samuel chapter 21, David was a fugitive from his jealous and homicidal king.  David had loyally served King Saul, protected Saul’s kingdom as an elite soldier, ministered to Saul’s distressed spirit as a musical therapist in his court, saved the king from assassination on at least 2 occasions, befriended Saul’s son, and --- by Saul’s own arrangement--- married Saul’s daughter.  Still King Saul wanted David dead, so David had to leave town.  In fact, David had to leave the country.

Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. (1 Samuel 21: 10)

Gath was Goliath’s hometown. You know--- Goliath, the giant, champion of Philistia, blasphemer of God; David hit him in the head with a rock and cut off his head.  That Goliath.  That Gath. (1 Samuel 17)

You wouldn’t think that David would find a safe place in Gath, having decapitated their local celebrity and all.   But Saul was closing in and David was in a hurry to find sanctuary.  So, David found a spot for the handicapped.

So he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. (1 Samuel 21: 13)

David feigned mental illness.  He pretended to have a cognitive disability. 

He played crazy.

And they let him stay parked in Gath.

Then Achish [king of Gath]  said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me?  Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?” (1 Samuel 21: 14, 15)

Instead of bringing David into his house (in chains), Achish told his people to leave ole’ crazy David alone.

Cause ancient peoples (pagan and Jew) kept reserved space for the mentally ill.

Long before researchers began to understand the true nature of mental illness, God understood.   Long before advocates began to call on societies to stop mistreating those who used to be called handicapped, God had already codified special protection for them in His Word.

You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:14)

Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen. (Deuteronomy 27: 18)

Supposedly religious people (including supposed Christians) have in various times and settings horribly mistreated the disabled, and done so in the name of God.  But God Himself---- God has always been in favor of towing the non-disabled guy double-parked in the handicapped spaces.

David wasn't really disabled, so he didn’t stay parked in Gath very long.  1 Samuel chapter 22 says that David moved to a non-handicapped space in Adullam.  It wasn’t as close a space.  In fact it was way out in a cave.   (1 Samuel 22: 1)

David, a student of God's Word, understood that YOU AIN’T SUPPOSED TO PARK IN HANDICAPPED SPACES.

God wants and expects us to set aside space in our land and our resources for those with special needs, i.e., the especially needy. 

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ^

 And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19: 9, 10)

As Jesus said in Luke 14: 13, 14,

“When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. ^13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.

And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

In His Word, God is up front that when we set aside those resources, someone will exploit the system.  Somebody who isn’t disabled will park in front of the wheelchair sign.  Somebody who could have a job will choose to draw unemployment.  People will park in the fire lane when nobody’s even on fire.

It's gonna happen.  

Set aside the space anyway.

David’s playing crazy did not invalidate God’s Word in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  And, none of the very real abuses of charitable systems invalidate our obligation to care for those who are especially needy.

Just cause some jerk double-parks in the handicapped spot doesn’t mean you take down the signs.

But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?  (1 John 3: 17)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064

Proverbs 31: 8 "JUDGE & ADVOCATE"

Proverbs 31: 8     Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die.
9     Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31: 8, 9.  A king had the authority to order an execution.  He was also the last hope of appeal from a death sentence issued by a lower authority in the kingdom.   It was the king’s right and responsibility to HEAR appeals from those who’d been appointed to die, but read carefully the message to/from King Lemuel.  

The king’s job wasn’t just to hear appeals from the ultimate condemnation.  The king’s job was also to MAKE THE APPEAL, to open his own mouth on behalf of those who did not have the resources, power, or eloquence to plead for their own lives.

Basically, whenever the condemned person had no one else to plead his/her case, a righteous king was supposed to try to talk himself out of ordering the execution.

Now, to be clear---- justice demands the ultimate penalty in certain cases (Romans 13: 3, 4).  A ruler who just lets everybody go is just as unjust as one who arbitrarily punishes everybody.

Justice is not automatically served by severity or by leniency.  Justice, godly justice, demands that somebody speaks for the prosecution and somebody speaks for the defense.  A leader, a godly judge, seeks justice so when no one speaks for the defense, the judge himself must be both judge and advocate. 

That wouldn’t work in America’s court system; but it works just fine for God.

Jesus is the Supreme judge, the last seat of appeal for the sentence of eternal condemnation.

John 5:22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son

When we stand before Him, the indisputable evidence of our sins condemns us all. 

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death…

When we stand before God in judgment we stand already condemned, and we stand alone----- without defense and without an alibi.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse

But God is absolutely just.  So Jesus -----if we have received Him by placing our faith in Him----- acts as our defense attorney in judgment.

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 

That’s why the Holy Spirit showed a courtroom scene to the Old Testament prophet Zechariah’s.

Zechariah 3:1     Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.

2     And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”
3     Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.
4     Then He[the Lord acting as advocate] answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”
5     And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.”
So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.

Notice in Zechariah 3:2, that the Lord is talking about the Lord.  Jesus, who is God, King, & Judge, is talking Himself out of condemning His condemned servant.

What is the greatest punishment within your power to assign?  Firing? Cussing out?  Assault? Destruction of a reputation?  Divorce?  Death?

Sometimes, the ultimate judgment is fitting (Matthew 25: 46).

But you must never issue that ultimate judgment lightly?  Even when the accused seems obviously deserving, especially when the accused has no power to stop you or to protect themselves----- you must pause in judgment and try to talk yourself out of issuing your ultimate sentence?

And if you can’t, if justice demands the highest condemnation, then execute the judgment soberly, with a heavy heart.  Since holy, sinless, perfect God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33: 11);  then neither should we.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 31: 8 "JUDGE & ADVOCATE"

Proverbs 31: 8     Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die.
9     Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31: 8, 9.  A king had the authority to order an execution.  He was also the last hope of appeal from a death sentence issued by a lower authority in the kingdom.   It was the king’s right and responsibility to HEAR appeals from those who’d been appointed to die, but read carefully the message to/from King Lemuel.  

The king’s job wasn’t just to hear appeals from the ultimate condemnation.  The king’s job was also to MAKE THE APPEAL, to open his own mouth on behalf of those who did not have the resources, power, or eloquence to plead for their own lives.

Basically, whenever the condemned person had no one else to plead his/her case, a righteous king was supposed to try to talk himself out of ordering the execution.

Now, to be clear---- justice demands the ultimate penalty in certain cases (Romans 13: 3, 4).  A ruler who just lets everybody go is just as unjust as one who arbitrarily punishes everybody.

Justice is not automatically served by severity or by leniency.  Justice, godly justice, demands that somebody speaks for the prosecution and somebody speaks for the defense.  A leader, a godly judge, seeks justice so when no one speaks for the defense, the judge himself must be both judge and advocate. 

That wouldn’t work in America’s court system; but it works just fine for God.

Jesus is the Supreme judge, the last seat of appeal for the sentence of eternal condemnation.

John 5:22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son

When we stand before Him, the indisputable evidence of our sins condemns us all. 

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death…

When we stand before God in judgment we stand already condemned, and we stand alone----- without defense and without an alibi.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse

But God is absolutely just.  So Jesus -----if we have received Him by placing our faith in Him----- acts as our defense attorney in judgment.

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 

That’s why the Holy Spirit showed a courtroom scene to the Old Testament prophet Zechariah’s.

Zechariah 3:1     Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.

2     And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”
3     Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.
4     Then He[the Lord acting as advocate] answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”
5     And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.”
So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.

Notice in Zechariah 3:2, that the Lord is talking about the Lord.  Jesus, who is God, King, & Judge, is talking Himself out of condemning His condemned servant.

What is the greatest punishment within your power to assign?  Firing? Cussing out?  Assault? Destruction of a reputation?  Divorce?  Death?

Sometimes, the ultimate judgment is fitting (Matthew 25: 46).

But you must never issue that ultimate judgment lightly?  Even when the accused seems obviously deserving, especially when the accused has no power to stop you or to protect themselves----- you must pause in judgment and try to talk yourself out of issuing your ultimate sentence?

And if you can’t, if justice demands the highest condemnation, then execute the judgment soberly, with a heavy heart.  Since holy, sinless, perfect God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33: 11);  then neither should we.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com or   .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116