My Name is David

i have made a few friends since moving here.  friendships are one of the most important things to me and without them, i don't function quite as well.  i have made all kinds of friends in my lifetime and i plan to make many, many more.  my dad use to tell me that if i could count the number of "true" friends on one hand, then i'm doing really good...well then, i consider myself amazingly blessed because i could fill up all my fingers and toes with the amount of "true" friends that i have.  if you combine the group of friends that i have along with the group of friends that heath has and you put them together, than we are doing better than just good.  much better than good.

back in january, heath and i had taken the children out for dinner and a special treat.  they were allowed to get ice cream and then we bought each of them a small gift for earning "house points" for doing extra special things around the house.  (the house point idea came from reese and maddox's amazing teacher!).  after our grand adventure out into the city, we started to make our way home.  and when we came out of the mall we'd been in, we realized it had been snowing!!!  i love snow...maybe even more than my children do.  when i was a teacher, we would tell our students to wear their pajamas inside out so that it would surely snow.  (and guess who else would wear hers inside out in hopes that it would bring us snow?)

yes, i love snow.  so on this night, i was feeling more than blessed.  an amazing night out with my family in a really cool city.  ice cream, toys and now SNOW!  it couldn't have been better.  it was when we got off the bus to make our way home and we passed by a homeless man, that i could not help but feel a pull in my gut.  here we were celebrating the snow.  cheering.  PRAYING for it to snow more, harder, bigger, colder snowflakes.....

was this man wishing...praying for the opposite?  what did the snow mean for him?  where would he find shelter tonight?  did he have enough to keep him warm?

i've passed by a few homeless people here in the city.  you can't dodge it in a big city.  homelessness is everywhere here.  you can't always see it, but it's here.  lurking in corners, crouched on steps , pushed back from the crowd.  hiding.  it's there.  and i always have that pull in my gut.  haven't you felt that pull too?

so when we passed this man on this particular night, i, like always tried to put it behind me as we passed him.  but once we'd gotten in the door of our nice warm flat.  our shelter.  our warmth.  i looked at heath and i think he knew right away what was wrong.  i told him i had to go back out there.  i had to bring him an umbrella, something.  i couldn't just leave him there.  i could no longer walk past him.  i'd walked past him already too many times.  i could not leave him tonight.  so i grabbed the umbrella and started to rush back out when heath called for me,

"mistye, give him this...."


and out i ran with my umbrella and some cash.  my husband, just when i think that i need to do something for someone else, he pushes me to do more.  that's the great thing about our marriage, i'm not afraid of the "doing" and he is not afraid of the "giving".

i ran back out and crouched down to give him his things.  he looked up and smiled, "God bless you", he said.  i gulped back my words.  i didn't know what to say.  i hadn't expected much conversation.  i told him to keep warm through the night and i began to walk away....

but i'd only gotten a few steps when i felt it, the pull in my gut.  giving was not enough.  (remember, i like the "doing") so i ran back to him. and stretching out my hand.  i said, "i'm sorry, i didn't get your name.  my name is mistye."  he looked me dead in the eyes with his beautiful hazel green eyes and said, "my name is david" and shook my hand.  we spoke briefly about the snow.  and i told him that i'd seen him out often and it was nice to finally meet him and that i was so happy to know his name now.  he smiled and said he felt the same.

since that night, there has not been a day that david does not cross my mind or my heart.  i began to pray for the chance to see him again.  he sits out in front of a crispens mini grocery store across from my flat so if anyone had a chance to see him, it would have to be me!

finally, one night when we needed milk and bread at around 7 pm, i ran across the street to pick some up.  and there he was!  i ran inside and immediately filled a bag with extra goodies.  apples, water, milk, and peanuts.  i almost forgot what we needed for ourselves....oh, yes, milk and bread!  i grabbed my things and ran back out to give him his bag of food.

"hi david!"  


"oh, mistye!  hi!"   (yes, he remembered me too)

i told him that i'd been waiting to see him again and i was glad to get a chance to say hello tonight.  he smiled and said thank you and i was on my way again.

it was the third time seeing him that we became friends.  the third time, i felt comfortable enough to sit with him and talk to him about who he is and why he is homeless.  his story is probably not very different than many others.  he was in a war (shame that i don't remember which one!).  he's in his 40s. he came back from war and can't get back on track.  he is injured and having trouble getting over the war situation.  he is from scotland with no family left.  he said the cold weather doesn't bother him here in london because it's not nearly as cold as what it is in scotland.  david is a bright man.  i can tell by his vocabulary. david never smells of alcohol.  i've never seen a drink in his hand.  he reads books.  he is looking for assisted housing.  he had an interview coming up and he wanted a shower.  so i asked him what i could do to help him today.  and he said he needed bus money to get to the shower so he could look presentable for his housing interview.

bus money is next to nothing.  so i gave him that and little more and told him to get a sandwich after his shower.  after we said goodbye, i turned to look back at him.  he was jumping up and rushing to the next bus...

i saw david the following day.  sitting on a bench, reading a newspaper, looking very happy.  and very clean.

i've seen david several times since then and we always exchange conversations.  i've sat with him a few times to talk.  although his scottish accent is thick, we still manage to understand one another pretty well.  but then, accents don't need to get in the way of a friendship, right?

yes, i've made all kinds of friends.  david is one of them.  a very different, but equally as special, friend.  he teaches me not to turn away when we feel that pull in our gut.  that voice that says to turn back.  that call from God.  because that's what it is.  a calling.  our calling.  to give and to do.

friendships are important to me.  without them, i don't function quite as well.  i hope that david is able to function a little better, himself, knowing that he has a friend out there.



Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.  Proverbs 27:17