Officer Friendly and Tom Henderson

Officer Friendly and Tom Henderson

The morning was well underway. The coffee line on the front porch was finally down to two or three guests. We were set up in the front yard and the house because it was a rather chilly morning, 48 degrees when we opened at 8:00a.m. Sixty or more guests had already been served their first cup of coffee. It was a full house. People were talking, sipping hot coffee, and a few were trying to nap on the couches. Names were being called for showers and for “socks and hygiene.” Some guests had already showered, several were being set up for showers, and a few more were now in the water.
Suddenly a police car came across the center line of Jefferson and pulled in front of Manna House facing the wrong direction. A police officer got out and started walking toward the front gate. My immediate thoughts were, “I sure hope no one is in trouble and I sure hope this police officer isn’t going to try and come onto the property.”
We have a longstanding policy of not letting the police onto the property. It is part of offering sanctuary to our guests. People on the streets sometimes don’t have the most cordial relation with the police. We’ve heard over the years of police harassment, and we’ve seen it for ourselves as well. So, I walked quickly to the gate and out to the officer.
“Can I help you?”
“Do you know Tom Henderson?” [not the actual name]
“No sir.”
“Come here.”
I walked around the police car with the officer. He opened the back door of the police car, and there sat a small white man wearing filthy smelly clothes.
“You don’t know this man?”
“No sir.”
“Well, he was trespassing at Methodist Hospital, and I was called to arrest him. But I don’t think that would do him any good. He needs a shower and a change of clothes. Can he get that here? Would you help him?”
“YES SIR! We sure will.”
With that, the police officer told Tom Henderson, “Don’t go back to Methodist Hospital. I don’t want to see you hanging around near there. Next time I won’t be so friendly.”
Tom Henderson agreed he wouldn’t go back.
I said, “Thank you officer. This is really a wonderful thing you are doing.”
“Uh-huh.”
And with that “Officer Friendly” as I now called him (not his actual name), got back into his police car and off he went.
I helped Tom up the steps. Kathleen took him into the clothing room. Even though the list was completely full, she made room for him to shower. The guests waiting were happy to see him get served. And the able crew of volunteers in clothing room got him set up and then into his shower. Twenty minutes later he appeared back on the porch, freshly showered, with clean and with fresh clothes.
Sometimes God’s graciousness breaks through in a very surprising way. It is like a small flower that grows through a crack in a sidewalk. Pharaoh’s daughter took in the baby Moses. The Samaritan helped the Jewish man robbed and injured on the side of the road. The centurion at the foot of the cross proclaimed, “This truly was the Son of God.” A prosecutor and persecutor came over to the way of Jesus and became a new man named Paul. Officer Friendly didn’t arrest Tom Henderson but brought him to Manna House.