God is Good and Then Some

God is Good, and Then Some

The streetlights at 6:00am illuminated the snow beautifully.  As I walked from my car into Manna House, I was reminded of the muffled snowy mornings when I’d walk to the Motherhouse in Rochester, Minnesota to serve early morning Mass for the Franciscan sisters.  Christ would be present in the ordinary bread and wine on those mornings; this morning Christ would be present in the ordinary folks from the streets.  Before the first guests arrived, Psalm 46 greeted me in morning prayer, “Be still and know that I am God.”  It was a day to listen and learn.

            I opened the doors around 6:15a.m., and guests slowly started to trickle in from the snow and cold.  Many had fortunately found shelter with Room in the Inn or in small apartments or boarding houses.  But some had spent the night outside, and they arrived frozen with wet clothes.  Whether they had shelter for the night or not, all morning long people arrived with wet and cold feet in shoes covered in heavy snow.  Light running shoes aren’t the best in this kind of winter weather and that’s what most guests get in donated shoes.  We were continually outfitting guests with fresh socks and shoes.

“Feels like I got new feet since I got on these dry socks and shoes,” said one guest.

            “I woke up this morning and started walking here from my cathole,” said another, “It wasn’t long before I felt like I was walking on blocks of ice instead of feet.”

            Cecil was asked what he thought of the snow, “I’m not enjoying it,” he said.  Another quickly added, “Its miserable out there.”  Late in the morning a guest who was recently banned from Manna House for a rather serious infraction, came into the house.  He quickly stuck his head in the clothing room door and said, “I know I’m barred but I really need a pair of dry socks.”  We gave him socks, and also made sure he got some hot coffee too before he left.

            Still a few guests found the snow appealing enough that they went outside and made some small snowmen on the picnic tables in the front yard.  And all morning the spirit in the house was joyous.  Perhaps this was due to Kirk putting on Christmas music as he served steaming hot coffee.   Or perhaps it was simply having a warm place to be, with feet now in dry socks and shoes. 

A few folks shared memories of other snowy days, which are relatively rare here in the South.

            “My sister used to make ice cream using freshly fallen snow.”

            “I sure used to like to make snow angels.”

            “We’d find a hill and use cardboard boxes to slide.”

            And one old curmudgeon observed, “This ain’t nothing.  Why the schools closed?  I remember walking to school with snow up to my knees.”

            Most everyone scoffed at that story.

            Instead of closing at our usual 11:30a.m., we stayed open for the whole afternoon.  At the suggestion of several guests, Ben and Lauren went and got a massive mound of friend chicken from the Cash Saver.  Everyone enjoyed this treat, especially with the hot sauce they also bought.  A mother and daughter team arrived with boxes and boxes of sack lunches, and those got passed around as well.  Later in the afternoon another volunteer arrived with snack food.  Hot coffee was available all day. 

A rousing game of Scrabble ended in the usual way with Twin victorious.  A few folks found enough quiet to nap on the couches.  There were plenty of stories told, and the music director from the Stax Academy came by for several hours and got people to share favorite songs.  So we all shared some wonderful music for about an hour. 

            The hour finally arrived when it was time for Room in the Inn pick up.  Despite the bad roads, faithful folks arrived to take twenty-six people for shelter at two different churches.  Two others had to be taken to the warming center run by the city, but at least everyone is inside tonight.

            As one guest had told me earlier in the day,  "God is good and then some."