From The Pastor - August 2018 Newsletter
As we rumbled down the rails of Houston’s Metro, I was thinking of all the people that God had placed in our path this week of the National Youth Gathering. There were those that I anticipated: the thousands of excited youth and advisors, those who had worked tirelessly behind the scenes for years, old friends (both pastors and parishioners).
But then there was the older worker who rode the Metro on his way to work at the NRG. He was apprehensive as the mass of teenage bodies and energy came flooding into the train and the NRG. He wasn’t negative, but cautious. Swallowed by this horde of humanity, he wondered aloud if this many teenagers would follow the rules, and behave. I saw him the next afternoon sweating in the sweltering afternoon Houston heat pushing a big cart through the parking lot. I called out to him and said thanks for sharing a ride with me yesterday. He smiled a tentative smile and gave me a thumbs up.
And there was Phillip whose tight white beard contrasted against his dark skin. He too was on the train, nearly alone, when the great throng of teenagers descended upon him. He sat on the aisle and had two plastic grocery bags filled with clothes sitting on the seat next to him. He held yellow work gloves in his lap. The train was full and I stood beside him. He had not bathed in a while as an odor emanated from him. He looked straight ahead. I tried to engage him in a conversation, but his eyes would not dare to cross so intimate a boundary. A few words were shared, then a tear, and then in a most poignant moment he picked up his bags, placed them on his lap and slid across to the seat he had been so carefully protecting. In that moment was welcome and hospitality. When I asked him how far he was going on the train, Phillip told me, “I hope to the end, then I don’t know.” Approaching my stop, I thanked him, shook his hand placing $20 in his palm as I left, but it was I who was gifted as I experienced the presence of God.
Thanks be to God who shows up on trains to bring welcome and hope. Amen.
Pastor Mike
But then there was the older worker who rode the Metro on his way to work at the NRG. He was apprehensive as the mass of teenage bodies and energy came flooding into the train and the NRG. He wasn’t negative, but cautious. Swallowed by this horde of humanity, he wondered aloud if this many teenagers would follow the rules, and behave. I saw him the next afternoon sweating in the sweltering afternoon Houston heat pushing a big cart through the parking lot. I called out to him and said thanks for sharing a ride with me yesterday. He smiled a tentative smile and gave me a thumbs up.
And there was Phillip whose tight white beard contrasted against his dark skin. He too was on the train, nearly alone, when the great throng of teenagers descended upon him. He sat on the aisle and had two plastic grocery bags filled with clothes sitting on the seat next to him. He held yellow work gloves in his lap. The train was full and I stood beside him. He had not bathed in a while as an odor emanated from him. He looked straight ahead. I tried to engage him in a conversation, but his eyes would not dare to cross so intimate a boundary. A few words were shared, then a tear, and then in a most poignant moment he picked up his bags, placed them on his lap and slid across to the seat he had been so carefully protecting. In that moment was welcome and hospitality. When I asked him how far he was going on the train, Phillip told me, “I hope to the end, then I don’t know.” Approaching my stop, I thanked him, shook his hand placing $20 in his palm as I left, but it was I who was gifted as I experienced the presence of God.
Thanks be to God who shows up on trains to bring welcome and hope. Amen.
Pastor Mike