This is my second sabbatical. The first was in 2011 and was the start of this blog. It’s inevitable to compare the two times and to try to fit this one into the mold of the earlier one, but the circumstances are different. I’m staying at home this time around and things feel more disjointed but also more like my normal life.
One constant is trying to be attentive to God and to find beauty in unexpected places. I also find it helpful to do some creative things and to write about what I’m experiencing.
Initially I was disappointed at the timing of this sabbatical - that I was not able to do this in August or September where it was warmer and I could do more things outside. Shorter days and colder weather are not my favorite time of year.
Autumn has finally come to Oklahoma and my instinct is to compare the fall colors to the wonderful tableau that God painted in the Black Forest over the past 8 years in Germany.
That’s hard to beat, but God has been pointing me to some surprising beauty in the midst of Oklahoma City.
Yesterday, I was downtown to help out with our church’s “Care for OKC” food and clothing ministry to less fortunate people in our city. They asked me to help in the morning setting out groceries for the main influx of people in the afternoon (4-6 pm). After helping out in the morning, I needed to hang out until 3 pm to go back for the main event. I went to a coffee shop and read for a while and then right at 3 pm I headed back towards the church on foot. I had seen some lovely red and orange trees last Saturday on a group bike ride and decided to walk over that way and photograph them.
Just outside the coffee shop, I saw this striking red tree up against the brick “Pontiac building” in “Automobile Alley” - buildings left over from the 1950s car dealerships. This tree would not stand out on a mountainside of trees in Germany but in this urban setting, it really ‘pops’ - just as God’s love shows up in unexpected settings.
I headed over to the small park where I had seen the colorful trees on Saturday.
On the way, a man experiencing homelessness called out to me and approached me. “I won’t hurt you or rob you!” (What must it do to your pride to have to announce that to people?)
I was initially irritated because I wanted to get to the trees and then back to the church in time to help out. But I listened to his story. He was looking for some money to get an Oklahoma State ID so he could get a job. He showed me his ID from Missouri. He needed to write off and get his birth certificate sent over. I gave him some money to help with that and then said if he would wait there, I would walk him down to our church to get some food and a warm coat.
I mentioned that I was just going to go over and take some pictures of the trees and come back.
“Would you take a picture of me?” he asked. I complied. Look for beauty in unexpected places. People are infinitely more beautiful in God’s eyes than trees, right?
I did go down and take my pictures which somehow seemed less important. And then walked back to get Anthony. As we walked, he saw I was carrying some books. “Do you like to read? I’ve written some books.”
He told me the titles. One was The Long road to Christ.
“Look it up,” he said. So I did.
There it was on Amazon with the name that was on his ID.
The subtitle: “how he came to Christ after many trials in his life”. He said to look at the back cover picture and then quoted what was there - how it was written while he was incarcerated in Missouri and his hope to take God’s word to incarcerated youth in Missouri when he got out in 2022.
Like the bright red leaves on an urban tree there was surprising depth and beauty in this man and his story.
We made it down to the church and I got him some water and got him situated in line and prayed that he would be early enough to get inside and get something warm against the cold nights. We can only take the first 75 people in line.
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