One night I was reading an
email from a friend on another team and I beamed as I read about the
ministry she was involved in. Her team was serving in Hungary for the
month but despite the distance her excitement about the Lord’s work
was contagious. One thing that really stuck out to me was that she
had become friends with a homeless man and she had been buying him
coffee as a way to love on him. In my reply to her email I jokingly
wrote, “I can’t lie I’m a little jealous that you have a
homeless friend to buy things for.” Little did I know what God
had in store the very next night…
Some of us were walking
home after having dinner in town when we walked past a woman sitting
on the sidewalk. I remembered seeing her earlier on our way to dinner
and she had been sitting in the same exact spot – that was over 2
hours prior. After taking a closer look at her clothes and the bag
she was holding to collect any spare change strangers might give her
I realized she was probably homeless. On top of that, it was
incredibly cold outside.
There’s a verse in Acts 3 that several people from my team have quoted at different
times this year and at this moment it popped in my head. It’s where Peter is speaking to a disabled man that’s begging for money – he says, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you…”
I didn’t have much to give but I wanted to giver her what I did have,
my leftovers [see note at bottom of page] from dinner. At this point
the only helpful word I knew in Slovak was “hello” so I walked
up, said hi and then before I could give her my food I realized
something…she was blind. Her eyes were glazed over and she
held tightly to a walking stick. Oh wow. I felt a little
insignificant giving a blind, homeless woman my leftover pasta when
clearly she had much bigger problems to deal with. As she replied
with a string of Slovak words that I understood none of I helped her
grab the to go boxes from my hands. She lit up with a smile and
began to thank me profusely. As I patted her on the back I said
the only other Slovak word I knew, “thank you” [yes, completely
irrelevant in this situation] and walked away.
I knew
this would not be the last time I saw her.
At this
point I wasn’t even thinking about the joke I had made to my
friend in
Hungary about wanting a homeless friend.
It wasn’t
about me anymore. It was about her.
Over the next few weeks I
began to visit her regularly. I found out her name is Evelyn
and I learned how to tell her in Slovak that my name is Erin. My name
is pretty difficult to pronounce in many countries so she ended up
just calling me Ellen…which is fine. Evelyn and Ellen – it
had a nice ring. I started buying her hot coffee and food and she
always responded with an overflow of thanks. Then after a while she
started to recognize my voice. I would just walk by and say hi
and she would burst out, “Oh Ellen!” as she grabbed me to kiss my
hands and face. It pretty much made my day every time. As if
all that wasn’t enough, one day as I brought her coffee she clearly
told me in English, “I love you.” My heart both broke and felt
complete at the same time.
God had so much more in
store than simply allowing me to be friends with her. He was showing
me how to love unconditionally – without knowing everything
about a person, without getting anything back from a relationship,
without even being able to communicate with a person – just
love. And He was about to rock my world even more…
Slovakia I wanted to go tell Evelyn goodbye. She had no idea this was
going to be the last time I would come to visit her. She literally
knew nothing about me or my plans besides my name and that I am
American. But as I walked up and said hello to my friend, she reached
in her pocket, pulled out a piece of paper, and handed it to me. She
had written me a note. A blind, homeless woman cared enough to
write me a note, seriously? It was all I could do to hold back
tears as I tried to decipher the scribble on the paper. I still have
no idea what most of it says. Honestly I think it’s a mix between a
Slovak and English. The one phrase I can make out for sure is “I
love you.”
That night Evelyn held my
hand tightly as Drew and I prayed over her in English. Logic would
say she had no idea what we prayed. But my faith tells me that she
understood every word. That night I believe the Lord reached down
and tore down the barrier between Slovak and English. He
bridged the gap between 2 generations and 2 nationalities. God
patched 2 broken lives and united us in Himself.
I love you too, Evelyn.
*** Note from above:
Something I have been convicted of this year is why we give our
leftovers to people in need. Are they not worthy of new things just
as we more fortunate people are? I don’t think there is anything
wrong with giving your used items to someone in need. I mean if
you’re going to get rid of it, it might as well go to good use
instead of the dumpster. But here’s a challenge for us all [myself
included, I’m no expert at generosity and I have a ton to learn] –
next time we buy a winter coat, why not buy an extra and give it to
someone? If we can afford a nice warm coat we can afford 2 of them,
right? And if we can’t afford 2 then maybe we should pick out a
cheaper coat and buy 2 of those 🙂 Or next time we drive through
McDonald’s or Panera or wherever, why don’t we just order an extra of
whatever we’re eating…I’m sure we could all find someone who would
enjoy a free non-leftover meal.
