The Ice Came and the Winds Blew
The past two mornings, we have opened Manna House early. Instead of our usual 8:00 a.m. start, we opened the door at 6:30 a.m. At that time on Monday morning, the sleet and icy rain were still falling, and kept falling for several more hours, while a strong north wind made temperatures drop. The house filled quickly, especially when the vans came bringing people who had stayed overnight at Room in the Inn.
This morning, when I arrived at 6:15 a.m., there was already one guest waiting, standing on the ice covered sidewalk. He had several blankets wrapped around him trying to fend off the 17 degree cold. When we attempted to get into the yard and then into the house, we discovered the lock on the front gate was frozen solid. The waiting guest produced a lighter, melted off the ice, and the lock opened. When he came into the house, he peeled off the blankets, and then several more layers, and laid back on one of the couches, and promptly fell asleep.
When we “officially” opened at 8:00 a.m., we prayed together, warm and cold hands joined in a circle in the house. We thanked God for our not falling on the ice, at least not too hard. We also asked that the cold might lighten up and the ice might melt.
Later in the morning I asked Jamal (not his real name) where he would stay the next couple of nights. I told him I was concerned since the temperatures are supposed to go into the single digits.
“I don’t know,” he said, “I’m worried. I don’t think I can survive outside. I may get myself arrested to get a warm place.” I told him about the Orange Mound Community Center that would be open and encouraged him to go there. (He told me he can’t stay at Room in the Inn or the Union Mission or any other shelter because he can’t stand to be around people). “They probably won’t be too busy,” I tried to assure him, “It should be quiet.” Another guest asked, “Do you think the police would give me a ride there?” I really didn’t know how to answer that question except to say, “I don’t know.”
Another guest recalled when one night he was so cold he built a fire under the bridge where he was staying. “Someone called the Fire Department and they came and put the fire out. I waited until they left, then I got me some gasoline and made that fire again. I figured if they came back or the police came I’d go to jail. I was going to be warm one way or another.”
The “Radio Station” which everyone on the streets calls the soup kitchen near Manna House was closed due to the bad weather. So, on Monday at Ashley's suggestion, we dug into our More on Monday supplies, and offered sandwiches to our guests. Today we bought more bread, cheese, and turkey, along with bananas to make sack lunches. Ben and Jenina led the sandwich making crew. Some eighty people got lunches.
Toward the end of the morning a conversation started among the guests about how nice and warm it was in Manna House. “This place isn’t drafty at all.” “I feel so good in here out from the cold.” “How old is this house? It sure seems well built.” One biblical scholar guest remembered Matthew’s Gospel, and said, “This place is built on rock, not sand. It’s solid.”
So we read from Matthew 7:24-27, where Jesus says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.”
I think that biblical scholar guest paid Manna House quite a fine compliment. The ice came, the winds blew, and we were still open. His words gave us a good end to a good morning.
This morning, when I arrived at 6:15 a.m., there was already one guest waiting, standing on the ice covered sidewalk. He had several blankets wrapped around him trying to fend off the 17 degree cold. When we attempted to get into the yard and then into the house, we discovered the lock on the front gate was frozen solid. The waiting guest produced a lighter, melted off the ice, and the lock opened. When he came into the house, he peeled off the blankets, and then several more layers, and laid back on one of the couches, and promptly fell asleep.
When we “officially” opened at 8:00 a.m., we prayed together, warm and cold hands joined in a circle in the house. We thanked God for our not falling on the ice, at least not too hard. We also asked that the cold might lighten up and the ice might melt.
Later in the morning I asked Jamal (not his real name) where he would stay the next couple of nights. I told him I was concerned since the temperatures are supposed to go into the single digits.
“I don’t know,” he said, “I’m worried. I don’t think I can survive outside. I may get myself arrested to get a warm place.” I told him about the Orange Mound Community Center that would be open and encouraged him to go there. (He told me he can’t stay at Room in the Inn or the Union Mission or any other shelter because he can’t stand to be around people). “They probably won’t be too busy,” I tried to assure him, “It should be quiet.” Another guest asked, “Do you think the police would give me a ride there?” I really didn’t know how to answer that question except to say, “I don’t know.”
Another guest recalled when one night he was so cold he built a fire under the bridge where he was staying. “Someone called the Fire Department and they came and put the fire out. I waited until they left, then I got me some gasoline and made that fire again. I figured if they came back or the police came I’d go to jail. I was going to be warm one way or another.”
The “Radio Station” which everyone on the streets calls the soup kitchen near Manna House was closed due to the bad weather. So, on Monday at Ashley's suggestion, we dug into our More on Monday supplies, and offered sandwiches to our guests. Today we bought more bread, cheese, and turkey, along with bananas to make sack lunches. Ben and Jenina led the sandwich making crew. Some eighty people got lunches.
Toward the end of the morning a conversation started among the guests about how nice and warm it was in Manna House. “This place isn’t drafty at all.” “I feel so good in here out from the cold.” “How old is this house? It sure seems well built.” One biblical scholar guest remembered Matthew’s Gospel, and said, “This place is built on rock, not sand. It’s solid.”
So we read from Matthew 7:24-27, where Jesus says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.”
I think that biblical scholar guest paid Manna House quite a fine compliment. The ice came, the winds blew, and we were still open. His words gave us a good end to a good morning.
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