I’d just seen the young man (I’ll call him Joe) for a few minutes before the incident. I’d been visiting my aging parents and part of the journey involved a three hour wait in the downtown bus depot. It was lunch-time, the depot doesn’t boast a great culinary selection and supper on the ferry was still several hours away. Since the options, sushi or pre-packaged sandwiches didn’t catch my fancy, I opted for a hamburger. That’s where I met Joe.
A word about Joe: I’d say he was about 20 years old, was dressed in a manner typical of his peer group, and seemed physically agile (in any case he certainly moved around the eating area in a hurry). From what I saw he didn’t display any obvious signs of a physical disability. Granted I’d just seen him for a few minutes but during that time nothing about his behaviour seemed out of the ordinary. That is, until he started cleaning up after paying customers.
Now this was no exercise in benevolence because his “cleaning up” consisted of finishing up the leftover food on abandoned or unattended trays. You can believe that I watched my meal closely as I backed up to the counter for a couple of extra serviettes…if Joe was going to eat it, I wanted some first!
My reaction to Joe’s consumption of cold fries vacillated between pity (should I buy him a meal?) to frustration (employers are begging for good workers – get yourself a job!). In just minutes he’d snatched what he could and left with a group of other young people. I contemplated the hunger that often invades the human heart – hunger for something beyond the cold, greasy offerings of sin.
In his book, Reading with Deeper Eyes: the love of literature and the life of faith, William Willimon says: “Words are the only tools in my ministerial bag of tricks.”
I’ve thought a lot about Joe since then. At least my meal was hot and satisfied my hunger; his was cold, and I suspect, far from adequate. As a writer I long to have my work saturated with a God-hunger that can’t be explained in human terms. There’s a hungry world out there and someone is longing to be fed.

Looking for a place to feel inspired and challenged? Like to share a smile or a laugh? Interested in becoming more familiar with Canadian writers who have a Christian worldview? We are writers who live in different parts of Canada, see life from a variety of perspectives, and write in a number of genres. We share the goal of wanting to entertain and inspire you to be all you can be with God's help.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Write Canada is more than a professional networking conference. It’s a safe place where beginning and intermediate writers can learn ...
-
-an article in the Light Magazine ‘HealingPioneers’ serie s By Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird One of Agnes Sanford’s most signifi...
-
I appreciate the opportunity to occasionally share my Christianity Today columns here. As always, your feedback means much. Carolyn So,...
-
A phrase I do not remember hearing frequently, has surpized me in the last three days, at least twice, in totally unrelated con...
-
Hope readers enjoy these excerpts from my current series. You can go to the whole of each from the links, of course. - Denyse Note:...
-
I have a delightful inheritance -- Bonnechere River, ON -- photo courtesy of Liz Kranz LORD , you alone are my portio...
-
Amidst the rush of edits, rewrites, blogging and promotional activities, today’s writer can sometimes get so caught up in the 'business...
-
For years I’ve begged my husband to bring me mustard seeds, eager to lay eyes on the tiniest Black mustard seeds grown in Canada seeds ...
-
Sometimes God requires us to step out of our comfort zones . This is not an easy thing to do when we become so comfortable with certain as...
No comments:
Post a Comment