Cheyenne

A group of friends and I recently went to a missions conference and afterwards we spent New Year's Eve in Nashville, TN. We had so much fun! 

Two of my roommates and I were walking down Broadway Avenue, downtown to where the big bash would be around 3 in the afternoon. We passed by many people, bars, and more people. I had never been to a place like this (probably because I don't get out much). As we were heading downtown we passed a store with what looked like a little boy sitting with a backpack and a sign that read "Homeless & Hungry."

So many people were walking by so fast, I only got a glimpse of the scene but just like everyone else, I kept walking. My roommates didn't notice it, and I'm sure that 98% of pedestrians didn't either. Most of it nobody's fault, the kid was sitting very low on the ground, right in front of an abandoned store.  A regular person would have missed it. For some reason I saw him.

We get to a candy shop further down and all I can do is think about that kid. Thinking about how I just passed him. I have served in several unique homeless ministries for the past couple of years but that didn't have anything to do with it. I passed him up. I was convicted. I shut my mouth for a good ten minutes as my roommates and I walked around the candy shop, along with dozens of other people who could contribute something to help that kid out. I was thinking about what I could bring him, the last thing I think he'd want was candy! Then I soon remembered that I had left over chicken strips and French fries from Chilis, back in our car near the hotel we stayed in not too far away.

After a bit of silence & thinking, one of my roommates asked me if I was going to get anything. I said that I didn't know and asked him for the keys to the car we drove to Tennessee with. It seemed as if it was a random request, but then I explained that I had to give that kid some food. They understood and I power walked back to the hotel.

On my way to the hotel, I passed up the boy. I took off my sunglasses and him if he wanted some food. It seemed as if he was getting ready to leave and he turned around as if he saw Jesus and said with a convincing voice, "Yes!" However, it didn't sound like a man yes, it was most certainly a woman yes. I asked for her name and she told me Cheyenne. She apparently buzzed her hair a few weeks ago. I explained to her that I had food for her, and it would take me about ten minutes to get it to her. She told me that she would stay there as I walked to our hotel parking lot to take the food out of the car.

I walked so fast and hard that my shins were blazing as I walked back to Cheyenne. I passed the same views that I passed earlier that day: bars and pedestrians. I prayed to God for words to say to her, because I didn't know her story at all. I didn't want to come off as offensive and I really wanted to hear her story. It sounds cheesy but, I sang the words "I trust in you" as I approached her. I really hoped to talk to her about Jesus.

Her face lit up as I returned with the little food that I had for her. I'm pretty sure that she expected me to leave after doing a "good deed" however, I talked with her as she ate. It has to be lonely on the streets, and I love eating with people. I couldn't imagine being homeless and eating alone. So I took off my sun glasses and began told have conversation with her. 

"So how'd you get out here?," I asked her. She explained that she had ran away from her home where she was abused and exposed to drugs. "It was a really bad situation," she said,"I had really crappy parents." 

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. "How old are you?" She told me that she was 24. She looked like she was 16.

She asked me if I went to school and I told her that I go to Texas Tech, in Texas. LOL
She followed that question with my least favorite question of all time. "So what's your major?"

So then I begin the spill that I am a Human Sciences General Studies major concentrating in Human Development & Family Studies, Personal Financial Planning, & Addictive Disorder Recovery Studies. "I want to do ministry after college is over," I explained. 

"Oh well since you study addictions, you can tell them that you met an addict in Nashville when you return!"

It was saddening to hear that. I paused for a moment. In the most awkward way I told her, "Well, I'm a Christian.." And before I could say anything else, her eyes widened and said, "Me too!" She began to pull out crosses and a bible out of her small backpack. 

Trying to clarify what she meant, I asked, "So you follow Jesus?" And she said, "Yes, He is everywhere I go."

Overjoyed, I told her that there is hope. He hasn't left her. He never will. But through her struggle in life, she already knew that. I asked her if I could pray over her her as people passed, and she let me. I explained that I had to get back to my roommates but, I wished her a happy New Years. With a huge smile on her face, she told me, "You too! Have a great semester at school!"

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I can think of several ways to waste this new year, and the rest of my life. I know that I will waste it if I do not wake up. Look at what's happened to us. 

I do not think that we are aware of what is going on in the world, I know that most of the time, I am not. We walk and drive past the homeless every day, probably on our way to get ourselves some food. We have company with community but cannot stay off of our smart phones. We complain about what we don't have, when we have more than 90% of the world. What has happened to us? 

When you love others you see the face of God. -Donald miller

It's not our depravity that makes us sad but our lack of material things. 

Why have we fallen so far? Its all due to our sinfulness. Moral perfection apart from Jesus is impossible so social injustice movements eternally fail. Saving women from trafficking is beautiful, but there is so much more to freedom. Being free is an illusion apart from Jesus. You are not truly free until you are free from eternal judgement.

In America we are fast paced. Walking like the people of Nashville on NYE, not noticing what is happening around us. We are looking at the latest fashions and complementing each other on how good we look and ask questions on how much each other's scarves were. We are figuring out the next way to earn our next check. We eat lunch and plan our dinner. We shop until we drop with no regard to the truth of what is really happening around us.

The world is going down with everything in it. Our money, possessions, loved ones, favorite restaurants , and pets are all going down with it. Jesus was perfectly aware of the hurt going on due to the sin in the world that He had come to abolish. 

So what is the point of these momentary idols compared to eternal joy? I think that should be one of the biggest questions we ask ourselves and are challenged with this new year. How can Jesus become more and I become less?