Expressions of Graditude

"Thank you!" she said as I climbed out of the car to make my way to the office.

"You're welcome," I replied as I made my way. Glancing at her, she was young, pretty, black and apparently a resident in one of our programs.

"No, I really want to thank you," she said, blocking my path.

"You're welcome," I repeated looking her in the eyes.

"No, I REALLY want to thank you," she said pulling down her tube top and exposing her breasts to me.

This was another one of those moments when I understood that this job of mine is diffferent from most. People come to Union Mission broken, hurt, filled with sorrow, and lost. They have abandoned or they have been abandoned. They are sick, addicted, mentally ill or void of hope. They are alone.

And that is where are work begins. Healing them. Housing them. Treating them. Encouraging them. Teaching them. Holding them accountable. Doing all of the things necessary to get them back to the place where they can take care of themselves and others.

Throughout the years, I have constantly been amazed at their ability to giive back once the healing process begins. Once when we were undergoing a hurricane evacuation, my family had already left town and I was working away trying to make certain that everyone had some place to go. Four of the residents of Grace House, stopped me and told me that I needed to go. They would take care of things for me because I had taken care of them. Now they were turning it around.

Another time I was in an automobile accident and my car rolled up on the curb in a neighborhood going through a transition. I crawled out of my car and sat on the sidewalk trying to collect myself.

"HEY!" I heard someone say, "that's the Rev!" and several people who used to be in our program surrounded me and cared for me. When the police car was arriving they knew their job was done.

"Uh, we gotta go Rev!" and they left me in care of the officers.

The point being that when we give, we get. Or to quote the Beatles, "and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." That is really what Union Mission does.

So I sidestepped the young woman as small crowd was gathering anyway.

"You're welcome Babe," I said and went to work.