The Unannounced Christmas Visitor, page 7
“Amen,” came the reply of many.
“You see, dear Grace,” Enoch said, “everyone here has a story to tell. Many have made bad decisions that put them here. While it’s true that drug and alcohol addiction are the chief causes of homelessness, not everyone here battles those addictions. Nor do we all have criminal records.
“If you spend enough time in any homeless setting, you will find most used to be responsible citizens until something happened that caused their lives to spiral downward, ultimately taking the wind out of their sails. No one living on the streets ever planned on being homeless.”
Turning to Pedro, Matthew said, “What made you homeless?”
“Drugs and alcohol mostly,” Pedro admitted. “Cost me everything I owned, including my wife and daughter.”
“How old’s your daughter?” Matthew said, maintaining eye contact. His query was a compassionate one.
“Eleven. About your age, right?”
“Yes. I’m ten. What’s her name?”
“Erica.”
“Nice name. When was the last time you saw her?”
The homeless man lowered his head sadly. “Six years ago. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love my daughter. I love her with all my heart and think of her every day.”
Eyes pleading for understanding, Pedro went on, “I didn’t leave her. I would never leave my own child. She was taken from me.”
He looked away momentarily before making eye contact again. “The day my ex-wife got a restraining order against me was the day I completely shut down. I cried myself to sleep for weeks on end. My drug use grew worse until I lost everything and found myself living on the streets.
“I don’t blame my ex that I’m homeless. But I do blame her for taking my daughter away from me. Even with my past addictions, Erica was always safe with me. I would never do anything to harm any child let alone my own daughter. I believe the same is true with most parents who are denied access to their children.
“What right does any parent have to keep a child from seeing a loving father? I hate to think how many good fathers out there have been barred from seeing their children, for reasons that have nothing to do with the child’s overall protection. Aside from excessive neglect or child abuse, anyone who keeps a child from a loving parent will have to answer to God for it.”
Everyone grew silent, unwilling to be the next to speak.
Wiping tears from his eyes with dirty hands, Pedro continued, “But praise God for using that man,” he said, pointing to Enoch, “to bring me into the Light. I was living in complete darkness, battling serious addiction and constant regret, until he showed up.
“Enoch reminds me all the time that God is in the restoration business. He always encourages me to remain patient and redeem this time by drawing closer to God, until He restores things between me and my daughter, in His perfect timing.”
“Amen,” said Suzie, shaking her hands skyward in victory for her accountability partner to see.
“All I can say is a few months ago, I was blind,” Pedro said, his black eyes radiant after being washed by his own tears, “but now I see. God has completely delivered me from drugs and alcohol. Just started a new job last week washing dishes at a restaurant down the street. I get my first paycheck next week.”
Gazing at some memory in mid-air, hopeful expression on his face, he said, “Soon I’ll have a place to call my own again. Once that happens, I’ll petition the court to drop the restraining order, so Erica and I can be together again.”
“Very good, Pedro,” Matthew said, thoughtfully.
“Enoch’s been a Godsend to us all. A real angel,” Tiwanna said, not knowing how precise she was on both counts. “Thanks to him, many who used to be full-blown alcoholics and drug addicts are clean and sober now, myself included!”
Tiwanna smiled gratefully, revealing several missing teeth. “Many of us even have jobs now. Those of us who can’t find work collect bottles and cans and take them to recycling centers for cash. Enoch helped us regain a sense of self-worth again.”
“Glory to God,” the Hispanic man said, humbly.
“But the most important thing to happen since Enoch’s arrival,” Leroy said, taking control of the conversation, “is that dozens of us are now children of the Most High God. I’m eternally grateful to be one of them.”
Everyone in the circle started clapping.
Lydia had never attended a Celebrate Recovery meeting at her church, which basically was the Christian’s version of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA). She suddenly felt like she was smack dab in the middle of one.
“You see, Matthew,” Leroy continued, “Jesus didn’t come into the world for those who think they are well. He came for those who admit they are sick. Too many people think they’re near-perfect when, truth is, we’re all broken—homeless or not! We all have weaknesses and we all fall short of the glory of God, in so many ways. We’re all sick and need a Doctor. And that Doctor is Jesus.
“It pains me to say this, but every time I read Matthew chapter seven, verses three through five, I can’t help but think of the many churchgoers in the world. Jesus said, ‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye,’”
Matthew was impressed how Leroy had quoted it from memory.
Leroy continued, “Simple truth is many who call themselves Christians are just as sick as those who’ve yet to be converted. Many have done everything there is to do in church but be converted. If you ask them, they’ll deny they’re sick and might even become furious with you. But that doesn’t make it any less true.”
My disciples are really getting it! Enoch silently praised God for using these humble, broken servants to teach His Word so beautifully.
“I thought church wasn’t until tomorrow,” Matthew said, sort of jokingly. Then again, Sunday school class never impacted him quite the way these kind people did. It was immeasurable.
Enoch smiled as only he could. “Yes, Matthew, many people will attend church tomorrow. And that’s a good thing, to be sure. But for those who truly belong to Yeshua, let this day always serve to remind you that true church doesn’t only take place inside buildings. Nor is it meant to take place only once a week. The three of you proved that much today.”
Matthew grinned. The corners of his mouth quirked upward, showing a mouth full of braces for all to see. The young boy was never more grateful for having been exposed to this new world, a world he sort of knew existed, but was a million miles away from the life he knew.
He already looked forward to doing it again. Hopefully soon.
Grace was thinking similar thoughts.
At 3 p.m. the Jensens returned home to find John asleep on the couch.
After cleaning the kitchen and showering, Lydia opened her Facebook account and nearly gasped seeing more than 100 likes and 37 comments to her post, and still counting.
Many who seldom, if ever, replied to her posts in the past wrote the nicest, most heartfelt comments. Some even offered to volunteer if she decided to do it again.
Matthew and Grace stood behind their mother, who was seated at the living room table. The kids listened with great interest as Lydia read each comment aloud.
Gathering her children in her arms, Lydia couldn’t ignore the satisfied expressions on their faces. Not that she was looking for compensation for what she did at the city park, but if she were, no other form of payment could top what she saw on her kids’ faces. It was priceless.
10
THE NEXT DAY - 7 DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
“CAN WE SAY HELLO to Enoch before Sunday school?”
“Sure,” Lydia said to Matthew, locking the car doors electronically, “but we need to hurry. There will be plenty of time after church service.”
“Can I be the one to invite him to lunch?” Grace asked, walking hand in hand through the church parking lot with her mother.
“Sure, sweetie. Just make it quick. We’re running late.”
They entered through the back door of the sanctuary. Matthew spotted Enoch sitting in the last row of seats. He wasn’t alone this time. Leroy and Pedro were with him. It was difficult at first recognizing Leroy with his long Afro tamed for the occasion. Tiwanna spent three hours braiding his hair so he would look more presentable.
Matthew and Grace raced toward them, bypassing all the clean cut polished members of this sizable congregation. Matthew fist-bumped the three men without the slightest concern of what anyone might be thinking.
Grace said hello by waving her hand wildly, excitedly. “Would you care to join us for lunch after service?”
“That’s a very kind offer, Grace,” Pedro said.
“We’d love for you to join us!” The enthusiasm in Matthew’s voice was evident.
Enoch glanced up at Lydia. She nodded yes. Settling his eyes on Matthew and Grace, he said, “We will join you, children.”
“Great!” Grace said, smiling.
Lydia looked at her phone screen. They were cutting it close. “Say bye for now kids. Can’t be late for Sunday school class.”
Grace hugged the three men, thus marking the first hug Enoch ever received at this place of worship.
“Enjoy Sunday school class,” Leroy said.
“Thanks,” the two children said at the same time.
Matthew fist-bumped all three men again before leaving, suddenly aware of the great attention they were receiving from so many others.
Lydia noticed too. She wondered if they also saw the anger slowly building on her face. “Be right back.” She made sure to say it loud enough for their many onlookers to hear.
A few minutes later, Lydia rejoined them. Having attended this church for so many years, this was the first time she noticed how dark it was in the back rows. Talk about being banished to the darkest recesses of the sanctuary!
“I was wondering, gentlemen, if you’d like to sit closer to the front?”
Enoch stiffened up, “Well...”
Lydia didn’t let him finish, “With me. It may not be the front row, but it’s a whole lot closer than here.”
“Are you sure?”
“There’s nothing I’d like more.” The genuineness in her voice, the sparkle in her eye and luminous smile on her lips, told them all they needed to know. She really wanted this.
“It would be our honor to join you, Lydia,” Enoch said.
The three men rose from their seats to the usual irritated, contorted faces glaring back at them. They may have looked entirely out of place to the many gathered, but they certainly weren’t out of touch. In fact, no one was more in touch with their Maker than they were.
As they moseyed down the aisle, the look on Lydia’s face gave the impression that she was in the presence of true greatness, not three homeless men, befuddling her onlookers all the more.
Lydia almost smiled. “Good morning, Ann!” she said rather cheerfully to her friend, upon reaching the seventh row.
“Good morn...,” Ann Chen stopped in mid-sentence. Eyes shifting to the three men with Lydia, her mouth was agape. She easily recognized the old man from the past two weeks, but she didn’t know who the other two men were.
“I’d like you to meet my three friends, Enoch, Leroy, and Pedro.”
“Nice to meet you, gentlemen.” Ann studied their faces cautiously, carefully. She was aware of Lydia’s ongoing marital problems and wondered if her good friend was suffering a mental breakdown of sorts, and this was her way of compensating for John’s not being here.
“Nice to meet you too,” Leroy said, on behalf of the three of them.
Sizing the three men up in her mind and deeming them harmless, even if untidy, Ann took a deep breath and relaxed. That is, until she noticed many staring at them. Shy by nature, she always shrank when garnering the attention of others.
Some churchgoers seemed perfectly fine with their being there. The youth, especially, were more curious than anyone else. Many managed to somehow look comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.
But the ones who made Ann’s skin crawl the most glared angrily at them with no compassion whatsoever, as if their precious space had just been violated.
Ignoring it all, the three men knelt together to pray to their Maker.
Lydia wasted no time joining them. Before bowing her head, she took one last look around. Judging by what she saw on some faces, one might think she was harboring three dangerous fugitives. Her chest heaved, and her heart burned within her.
Why don’t you all focus on removing the planks from your own eyes, before worrying about the specks in my friends’ eyes! Lydia thought angrily, remembering what Leroy had said at the park. She wanted to say, “Are we the reason you came to church? If not, please stop staring at us!”
She thought better of it. Two wrongs don’t make a right!
It was as if the Book of James, chapter 2, was materializing before her very eyes. Even if only in thought, her fellow congregants were dishonoring her three friends solely because of the way they were dressed. If they wore gold rings and fine clothing, they would be most welcome here. Isn’t this what loving the least of these was all about?
Lydia couldn’t help but feel like she was gathered among a bunch of hypocrites instead of fellow churchgoers. To prevent anger from rising up, she blocked it out of her mind, so she could worship her King, in peace, with her three brothers in Christ.
Shortly before the service started, Betty Rainer made her grand entrance into the sanctuary. She walked down the aisle, arm in arm with Guillermo as always, her husband Tom in tow, waving and smiling to everyone with whom she made eye contact.
When Betty saw Lydia kneeling next to her three unsightly guests, she quickly turned her head. Her face didn’t quake with anger this time, but the fact that she totally ignored Lydia because of the company she was keeping, exposed even more of the senior’s ugly, ungodly character.
Guillermo didn’t even bother looking. His head remained forward the whole time.
The moment the Rainers finished their grandstanding, Guillermo hustled to the back of the sanctuary and the service promptly began.
Finally seeing this well-oiled presentation for what it was, Lydia was able to block the elderly couple out of her mind, along with all the other nonsense that should never find its way into a church, and worship her Creator with her three brothers in Christ.
When it came time to receive the offering, associate pastor Amrit Chattergee prayed before the ushers, already in place, began patrolling their designated areas collecting tithes and offerings.
A female voice started softly singing a capella, “O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”
Lydia received the offering plate from Ann Chen, gave her tithe, and passed it to Enoch seated to her left. She observed in utter amazement as her three friends reached deep into their pockets for loose change and a dollar bill or two, placing everything they had onto the collection plate.
The expressions on their faces made it look as if they were being handed money instead of giving it away. What made it even more remarkable was that they gave every-last cent they had to a church that treated them like vagrants at best.
Lydia thought, We’re treated like family here, yet we struggle at times to give 10 percent back to God. And even that causes arguments at times!
The very thought of it saddened her.
The young woman with angelic voice repeated the chorus, O come let us adore Him, this time with the aid of musical instruments. Many scattered throughout the assembly rose from their seats and joined in.
Then more people stood. Before you knew it, the vast-majority were standing, hands lifted high above their heads, lending their voices to the choir, singing joyfully, including Lydia.
Ann Chen rose from her seat the moment her husband Jack returned from collecting the offering. As the married couple praised God together in song, Lydia couldn’t discern Jack’s true thoughts regarding the three homeless men seated a few spaces away from him. If anything, it looked as if he was trying to ignore that they were even there.
Enoch, Leroy and Pedro weren’t standing. All three had their faces pressed down on the seats they were seated on a few moments ago.
The way they bowed in reverence to the Glorious One, completely lost in His presence, penetrated Lydia’s weary heart, soul and spirit, all the way down to her bones.
The song’s chorus, “O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord,” was repeated many times before the song ended. Enoch, Leroy and Pedro remained on their faces the entire time.
In a way, Lydia felt like she was in the presence of the three wise men of the Bible. Only they were three wise homeless men from the neighborhood. But who else in this place adored Jesus, as the song being sung boldly declared, to the point of falling prostrate before Him in worship? The answer was no one. It made it even more difficult to accept that these caring, humble, selfless men were the objects of scorn from so many filling the sanctuary.
This was the most peaceful Lydia had felt in this place in many weeks.
It suddenly felt like church again. Finally!
11
THE MOMENT THE SERVICE ended the Chens rose from their seats, gathered their belongings, and quickly left without saying bye to anyone.
Lydia winced. Hmm, that’s a first. Erasing the thought from her mind, she turned to her three guests, “Be right back, gentlemen. It shouldn’t take long to get Matthew and Grace.”
“Take all the time you need.”
“Why don’t we meet back at my car?”
“Sure,” Enoch replied, speaking on behalf of the three of them.
Since Leroy already knew what her car looked like, Lydia handed her keys to him and pointed them in the general vicinity of where it was parked. If John only knew I just gave my car keys to three homeless men, he’d have a heart attack!
