Atl. 32.
Tuesday morning I woke up really early to make the trek up to Cross Pointe church in the north suburbs of Atlanta, near the Catalyst offices and convention center, with Jeff, Gisele, Chris Torres and Matt Carson (full car!). We met in the student center of the church with around 45 other creatives, innovators, and Catalyst employees for the annual creative brainstorming meeting. I met a lot of really great people (as John Saddington of Church Crunch, who was also there, put it, I was “surrounded by famous people”). But the creative process itself was amazing - and fun. We sat at tables with around 6 other people, and for ten minutes would talk about BIG ideas for one aspect of this year’s Catalyst event. The only rule was that no one could say “No”; you had to respond to each idea with the phrase, “Yes, and…?” There were no budget constraints and no limits. It was a blast coming up with wacky stuff all day, and really gave me an insight into the process that makes Catalyst such a cool event. Every time you’d finish brainstorming with your group, you’d present your favorite three items (and everyone would laugh), and then you’d mix up the groups entirely and do it all over again. It was a pretty great day.
This afternoon I networked a bit with a banner printer facility in Buckhead to try and get my banner designs printed soon, and submitted all of the t-shirt orders as well. I worked some on the Green My Hood logo concepts, and started working some on the logo of Plywood People (which is a project I’ll talk more about some other time). I am now using Illustrator more than Photoshop, and am starting to wonder how I ever designed things without it (oh yeah, I spent tons of money on stock vectors..); it’s becoming second nature now.
Enough about work. This is what made my day spiritual. This is what made my day great.
This evening I walked to the Village to get some $2 sushi for dinner. When I walked in the restaurant and was waiting to be seated, a tripped-out, drunk, ragged clothed homeless man ambled in behind me. He introduced himself to me as Bobby, and said that he was hungry. Before I could say much in reply, the waiter came up to seat me, looked at the man and said, “You: Go! Get out of here.” And then he sat me down at my table for one, handed me a menu, and said,
“Too many fucking homeless.”
I was taken aback; not just because of the strong language, but because of the de-sensitivity to humanity. I stuttered and tried to say, “No, no.. He’s alright.. It’s okay..” And he just said, “No he’s not. Anyway, what do you want to drink?”
The waiter went onto business as usual, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the man. I kind of wished I had made it a table for two - not that the restaurant would have let Bobby stay anyway. But I was troubled. Earlier in this blog, I made the commitment to not pass up opportunities to bring the Kingdom to others, and I intend to keep that. So after sushi, I walked outside and just a block away saw Bobby standing on the street corner, staring off into the distance of cars passing by, couples on their way to dates, men in suits getting off from work, and him - hungry and no where to go. It was like a scene from a movie.
It was like someone had scripted me finding him there.
So I went and talked to Bobby. We sat down on a bench there in the Village to chat for a while (his request - he really wanted to talk). I offered to go in and get him some food from Joe’s coffee shop, and he insisted that he wanted to go in too. I knew it was going to cause a problem, but he was persistent, and how could I deprive the man the dignity of going in to pick out what he wanted to eat? But, sure enough, not long after we entered, Bobby raised his voice and caused a scene. The guy behind the counter told him to get out, and the rest of the store just stared at me (awkward..). So Bobby and I went back out on the street to talk some more until I could finally get his food order (he was hardly coherent). Finally, he told me that he wanted a cupcake and a cup of coffee - milk and sugar. As I got up to go buy it for him, he grabbed my arm and said, “Thank you, Russell.” His voice got really low, and serious, almost as if about to cry, and looking at the ground he said, “You don’t know how many people just do not even care about me. But you care about me - enough to get me some food. I thank you man. I know I don’t look like much. I know I look pretty pitiful” - he said, tugging at his ratty clothing - “And I’m sorry for the way I am. But thank you. Thank you for caring anyway.”
I purchased the cupcake -chocolate, with sprinkles - and got a coffee. Bobby was really grateful for the stuff, and started drinking the coffee right away. We small talked a bit more, and then I blessed him as he started to make his way. He just turned around, and as he continued to walk away, said, over and over, “Thank you, Russell. Thank you, Russell. Thank you, Russell..” until he faded and I couldn’t hear his gratitude anymore.
I’m glad I could buy a chocolate cupcake with sprinkles and a coffee - milk and sugar - for Jesus tonight. Best $3.46 I’ve ever spent in my life.
Wherever you are tonight, Bobby, God bless you. I hope the cupcake was good.
