MEETING AN ANGEL!!

Today I brought a cup of coffee in Norwich, and took it out to a man outside Top Shop, and gave it to him.

I had done this three or four times before, asked how he was doing, purchased what he was selling and walked off.

He sells "The Big Issue"

Today I actually "met" Simon for the first time. We stopped and we engaged in conversation for 15 or 20 mins.

Simon is his name (that may be obvious from the above sentence, but I am clarifying that this is the first time I had really engaged with him), and he told me about his life over the past year. A "victim" of tough economic times, and the downturn of the UK Fishing industry in particular, he worked on various sea fishing trawlers and had just re located to the West Country to a new company and after 3 months of working for them the company went bust. The house he was living in came with the job and as a consequence he was out on the street. He has slept in doorways, under the stars with a blanket ot sleeping bag for cover, in various tents, and rarely on the odd sofa. He was fairly up beat and overjoyed today as he had just secured the rental of a small flat.

Simon has been trying to gain employment for the whole of his homeless period, however with no fixed address employers have been reluctant to say the least, to offer employment no matter how qualified he may be at the job. If people like Simon cannot find a job they cannot affors a place of their own, if they don't have a place to call "home" then invariably they cannot get a job. And that is The Big Issue. No pun intended but that is why that magazine exists. Not so you and I can feel good that we dipped into our pockets for £2 and gave it to some poor person on the street. But to try and enable these people to earn some sort of income to try and raise enough money to get accomodation to geta job.

If you had asked Simon 12 months ago about being homeless he would never have even contemplated it as a possibility.

So this is not a political rant over the rights or wrongs of our systems in the UK, or over rich vs poor. It is maybe just a call out to not so readily walk past the Big Issue seller in your street, but just give them a little support, it could be you or I one day.

The experience reminded me of how I met someone who has become a good friend, Daniel Harrison. And I relayed part of this story to Simon today, but I want to share it with you in full and want to encourage you about engaging in converstaion with strangers:

HAVE YOU MET AN ANGEL LATELY?


Hebrews 13 vs 2 says "Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it"

Have you met any angels lately? Was he or she in a white robe? Was there radiant light all around them? Did they have large wings made of feathers?

No okay well neither have I........................................but I met Daniel.................he is one of God's angels but has no wings and does not have a white robe...............let me share......

October 16th 2008

My wife and I had a rare day off together and decided to go shopping in Norwich, one of our favourite "local" shopping areas. We had no children around us (all at school or work) and someone else picking them up from school, we thought we might start getting one or two bits together for Christmas. Now that may look a bit early (October 16th) but we have 6 children to think of so tend to start around this time if not sooner..............anyway...............

We walked through the shopping area and walked towards Top Shop where outside was a girl selling the "Big Issue". I always tend to buy at least one when I am in Norwich although my wife never buys any at all. However, I started towards this girl to go and buy a copy and then just felt a prompt (that’s in my head not physically) not to buy a copy from her so I carried on walking.

We were walking together and I was looking in various shop windows and as we were walking along I lost contact with my wife (Julie) and for a moment lost site of her. As I scanned round there she was with this bloke in a blue jacket and a black woolly hat and black fingerless gloves and she was chatting away and buying a copy of his big issue. Now that was the first strange thing the fact that she was buying something she would never normally buy. As they were talking (and as I was walking towards them) I could hear Julie telling this bloke how angry and upset she was.

Let me give you a bit of background here. Several weeks before we had been walking through Norwich and as with any city we saw some people begging for money or sleeping rough. My wife had seen one lady, whom at first she thought was a man, sleeping in a doorway in the middle of the day. She gave her some money but was very upset by what she saw to the point of feeling quite angry and is seeking someway of doing something (she doesn't know what but she is sort of searching on this issue) to try and help people like that. Then on Sunday 28th September a man had been killed after going to the aide of a man and his girlfriend who were being beaten up by a gang of youths (the man and woman were believed to be homeless).

So back to this man and the Big Issue - I came across and joined the conversation. Julie was telling him how upset she was and how some people didn’t really deserve to live after they did what they did to the chap who was trying to help others. The Big Issue seller just had a smile on his face all the time. It was strange and I really found I couldn't help but want to smile with him but I couldn't for the life of me think why as the subject of the conversation was pretty unpleasant.

He looked at Julie and said "I know it was a really bad thing to happen to those people but you know I think God would have been there holding there hands, and whilst He couldn't stop it He was trying to comfort them and be with them through the ordeal".

Now that really isn't an answer I expected to hear let alone from this Big Issue seller. I had paid for the Big Issue but at this point I didn't want to leave.

He said, "I'm a Christian and I have been since I was 17. Things are a bit tough right now but God still looks after me".

Julie and I looked at each other and both turned to this chap and invited him for coffee.

We went to a coffee shop not too far away and took Daniel for coffee and some cake.

We spent the next two hours in the company of one of the most amazing people I have ever met.

We were so alike. Both of us came from the same area in Essex. Both of us were born in 1962, I on March 2^nd and he on April 2^nd. He had recently gone through a divorce and that was the reason for him being homeless. He was in a flat but only until the end of October when he was going to be kicked out again. He attended a church in Norwich and we found we both knew some of the same people.

My wife and I listened to the things he shared with us and the time flew by.

He volunteered at a drop in centre for anyone who just wanted a chat and the night before no one had turned up so the three people who led it, him and two others, held a time of prayer.

They had each prayed that they would meet a Christian who was struggling and needed encouragement. Oh WOW that was so my wife who was finding things really tough. Daniel spoke with her for ages, the smile never leaving his face not even when he talked about having nowhere to go at the end of the month.

When Daniel nipped to the toilet I told my wife I was going to buy a Big Issue from the lady by Top Shop, and she told me that she was going to do the same but something had stopped her.

Well when Daniel came back we exchanged email addresses (he accesses the internet at the local library) we shared a prayer together and gave each other a hug.

After that meeting we didn’t want to shop anymore and didn't. We just went home and talked about Daniel and what had just happened.

We saw him again the following Saturday and now it was like greeting an old friend. He was there selling his Big Issue and I got some of the guys we were with to buy him out so he could finish his day early.

The third time I met Daniel face to face was over a year later - after contact through email - when I attended his wedding.

Julie and I have met Daniel and AnnMarie on several occasions and they are both an exciting encouragement. So very positive in everything despite (or maybe because) things being tough. Daniel has his own window cleaning round in Norwich and is working daily to bring money in for the family and we email and Facebook regularly when we cannot meet up face to face. 

So - when you walk through your town and there is a Big Issue seller there and they are really annoying and asking if you would buy there magazine, think twice before you walk by.

You may just meet a Daniel!!

God Bless Steve