I've been home for a couple hours now, but my toes are still freezing. It was so cold and so windy tonight, but I'm thankful that we were able to make it out to the streets. I FINALLY got to see Mickey tonight. It's been months since I've seen him; and the last thing we heard before we lost touch with him was that he had a heart attack and was in the hospital. We searched and searched and searched, but no luck.
The night we first met Mickey was unforgettable. We got a call from Plainfield United Methodist, who also does outreach on Wednesday nights, asking if we had any blankets. There was a new guy under one of the bridges who had nothing...he wasn't prepared at all to be sleeping outside. As Kim and I sat down to try to get to know this new face, the first thing I noticed was his clothes. Not your everyday homeless guy get-up. He had on a nice collared shirt, dressy pants and shoes, and a peacoat. It was his second night on the streets. Not second night this time around, second night EVER! He told us incredible stories about his life. He is a really neat man...born in Russia, retired school teacher, Jewish, has a handful of children, concert pianist, and it went on and on. None of us wanted to see him stay out there another night, but he said he knew that God wanted him there. So we continued to visit him and tried to get to know him a little better each week for the next few weeks...but it wasn't long until he dissappeared.
A few weeks ago, I had taken some of the High School kids from the Riverside neighborhood downtown to do outreach, while the rest of the "grown-ups" went to the bridges and camps. We all ended up back at the DAT House looking for more stuff...coats, blankets, gloves, and things of the sort. It was then that Kim told me that Mickey was back! NO WAY! I was really glad to hear that...well, not glad that he was back under the bridge, but glad that he was alive! He really did have a heart attack and after he was released from the hospital he visited some friends and family up in Michigan, then made his way back down to Indianapolis.
Honestly though, he is looking rough...the streets and his health are really taking a toll on him. Tonight was the first night I actually got to see him and talk to him since he's been back. He's been asleep a couple of the other times I had come under the bridge...but, he also had ANOTHER heart attack last week! He's talked about "the end" since the day we met him, but he is talking about it a lot more these days. Mickey is certain that it's almost his time. He tells us that he feels blessed to know that...it gave him a chance to make peace with himself, with God, and with a few people...and he is ready to go. I know reading that may sound sad, but if you could talk to him and hear it from his mouth, I promise you would smile as big as we were tonight! I'll tell you that he flipped my night upside down...God sure spoke through him tonight! It's funny how that happens...EVERYTIME, everytime I'm having a crappy day or am in a bad mood or just being a jerk for no real reason. It's almost like God is saying, "Yeah, go ahead. Just TRY to act like you have ANYTHING to complain about. Seriously!" He's funny like that! I wish everyone could sit and talk with Mickey...I can almost promise you would get something incredible out of it as well!
One thing that he did mention tonight was that he would REALLY love to be able to play the piano one last time! (Okay, that part was sad...even with his big beautiful smile.) We are working on making that happen...so pray with us on that one, please!
A few of us are going to try and take him out for lunch Saturday afternoon and hopefully hunt down a piano somewhere downtown...if you've got ideas, those would be super helpful!
The night we first met Mickey was unforgettable. We got a call from Plainfield United Methodist, who also does outreach on Wednesday nights, asking if we had any blankets. There was a new guy under one of the bridges who had nothing...he wasn't prepared at all to be sleeping outside. As Kim and I sat down to try to get to know this new face, the first thing I noticed was his clothes. Not your everyday homeless guy get-up. He had on a nice collared shirt, dressy pants and shoes, and a peacoat. It was his second night on the streets. Not second night this time around, second night EVER! He told us incredible stories about his life. He is a really neat man...born in Russia, retired school teacher, Jewish, has a handful of children, concert pianist, and it went on and on. None of us wanted to see him stay out there another night, but he said he knew that God wanted him there. So we continued to visit him and tried to get to know him a little better each week for the next few weeks...but it wasn't long until he dissappeared.
A few weeks ago, I had taken some of the High School kids from the Riverside neighborhood downtown to do outreach, while the rest of the "grown-ups" went to the bridges and camps. We all ended up back at the DAT House looking for more stuff...coats, blankets, gloves, and things of the sort. It was then that Kim told me that Mickey was back! NO WAY! I was really glad to hear that...well, not glad that he was back under the bridge, but glad that he was alive! He really did have a heart attack and after he was released from the hospital he visited some friends and family up in Michigan, then made his way back down to Indianapolis.
Honestly though, he is looking rough...the streets and his health are really taking a toll on him. Tonight was the first night I actually got to see him and talk to him since he's been back. He's been asleep a couple of the other times I had come under the bridge...but, he also had ANOTHER heart attack last week! He's talked about "the end" since the day we met him, but he is talking about it a lot more these days. Mickey is certain that it's almost his time. He tells us that he feels blessed to know that...it gave him a chance to make peace with himself, with God, and with a few people...and he is ready to go. I know reading that may sound sad, but if you could talk to him and hear it from his mouth, I promise you would smile as big as we were tonight! I'll tell you that he flipped my night upside down...God sure spoke through him tonight! It's funny how that happens...EVERYTIME, everytime I'm having a crappy day or am in a bad mood or just being a jerk for no real reason. It's almost like God is saying, "Yeah, go ahead. Just TRY to act like you have ANYTHING to complain about. Seriously!" He's funny like that! I wish everyone could sit and talk with Mickey...I can almost promise you would get something incredible out of it as well!
One thing that he did mention tonight was that he would REALLY love to be able to play the piano one last time! (Okay, that part was sad...even with his big beautiful smile.) We are working on making that happen...so pray with us on that one, please!
A few of us are going to try and take him out for lunch Saturday afternoon and hopefully hunt down a piano somewhere downtown...if you've got ideas, those would be super helpful!
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