I wasn’t sure if Lyle remembered my name or even our conversations. After turning down my lunch offer by not showing up at the taqueria a few weeks earlier, I had assumed to have only been a blip on his radar. Of course, why would I have been anything else? I was just another privileged white guy who drove a functioning car, slept in a warm bed, had a constant life companion(Janny…and Harry) and only worried about eating LESS food, not finding ANY food. I came to find out that these were assumptions of some of the ways I would view the “privileged” if I were in Lyle’s shoes…he is much more mature than I.
Every Sunday at about 3:30pm I show up at the shelter and hang around with my new friends. Al the Chef stands outside the kitchen among all the folks lining up for the meal and smokes his pipe(tobacco!)with a smirk of pride at having finished cooking a meal for 200 people. He doesn’t talk much, but with a Sherlock Holmes-like pipe…there is no need for words. Every once in awhile I will bring mine and stoically stand next to him. I feel like a 4 year old trying to imitate my father reading the paper with coffee in hand, but instead of coffee mug I am using a sippy cup and reading an Elmo picture book.
Although at times it feels like a burden to commit this time to hang out with my new friends, once I am there I can’t imagine missing out. After standing next to Al the Chef like his little padawan, I milled through the crowd of tooth missing, 7 layer wearing, long beard toting Inhabitants of the Kingdom. Through the crowd I saw my friend Lyle. He saw me right away and counter to my assumptions, it didn’t take him long to remember our conversations. In fact, one of the first things he said was, “you invited me to lunch!” We got to catch up for the next 15 minutes before I went back into the kitchen to take my post in the food line.
Every week I learn new names and hear new stories. My intentions are to be the embodiment of Jesus to my friends(Matt. 5:48), but in reality I have the opportunity to smile into Jesus’ face with each passing tray of stew.