My leather Ecuadorian purse hung lightly at my waist. I practically emptied it but for my cards and chapstick. I was learning. I calculated a 15 minute brisk walk ahead of me one way.
Jon is teaching me (refreshing me) on how to drive his standard car but while I don't have a job he is taking it in to work. We think we will only be in this area a few more weeks with his current project and so job searching has been temporarily put on hold for me. As much as I like to be busy, I am not complaining. The past month and a half have been a restful balm to my soul. I needed to remember how to rest and enjoy little things like morning birds.
I usually make a perfect Americano in our little hotel home using my new Aeropress but I decided to adventure out today for a familiar cup of Starbucks coffee. Besides, we were given a Starbucks gift card for our wedding (but we both knew it was really for me). There is a Starbucks within walking distance and I thought it would be fun to enjoy a cup of coffee and a nice walk. I love walking.
There is a large church next to us with a parking lot encased in a tall wall. There is a convenient two person sized whole punched through the cement wall. It connects a large neighborhood to the mall and sprawl of shops Jon and I are situated next to. It is the only direct rout. One would have to walk some distance in either direction to get through, we know because we tried once on an evening walk.
I have speculated on who might have pulled down the cement bricks in that portion of the wall. And not just pulled them down, they are completely gone. And strangely, a feeling of victory and comaraderie with everyone who must walk to get to their destination wells up in me.
As I carefully climb through the hole and dodge all of the trash that have made their home there, I consider which route to take. My choices are a main road or a neighborhood. My handy phone GPS tells me that the main road is faster. But 5 minutes of walking tells there is also no sidewalk. I backtrack to the neighborhood.
The neighborhood is full of stories and contrast. Nestled into the city of Irving next to the fortress that is DFW airfield, the old neighborhood feels friendly and spooky, depending on the drive-way I am passing. A few homes look condemned and many seem in competition for the most shapely shrub. There are others, like me, out walking. Dogs bark and a black and white cat observes me. Three men outside a home, smoking, say hello. I nod politely and walk a little faster. The continuous traffic of people wraps me in a safety net but I am still cautious and careful.
My pace is steadily growing and with it the Texas sun begins to reach me in waves in between the tree cover. I finally make it to McDonalds where I veer right right. I decide to cut through a large parking lot towards the looming Starbucks sign.
All I can think about is water. I wipe moisture from my forehead and chuckle at myself. I walked all this way (15 minutes had melted into almost 30) only to crave WATER! I didn't even care what kind of coffee I had. Although, I knew I would have to buy coffee in order to ask for water.
I stared in shock at the hand written sign on the door, "Sorry for the inconvenience - temporarily closed due to power outage." I groaned and stared across the hot parking lot. Only one way to go, back.
I scanned the shops as I trudged. My mostly empty purse was beginning to weigh on my shoulder. I licked me lips and tried not to think about how delicious a cup of water would taste at that moment. I came to a donut shop and walked through the blessedly open door. Their coffee pot looked bleak but they also sold energy drinks. I bought three donuts (two for Jon) and a Power-aid. I drank the entire bottle before I reached the neighborhood.
I tiredly climbed through the hole in the wall and had a weird temptation to discard my empty bottle with the rest of the garbage nestled in the hole. Instead, I tossed the plastic into the trashcan outside of our hotel entrance.
I sat down on the couch in our little home. I looked at my phone and registered 12:10. I smiled wryly to myself. I spent over an hour to buy a bottle of Power-aid for $1.89. I sighed and poured myself a large, very large, cup of water. I would make coffee for myself later.
But the trip was not a waste. It was a valuable and living parable to me. Coffee is a luxury and walking is more than recreation. Too so many of the people around me in this little area, my 'adventure' is their daily experience. And a few of them, could not have afforded the Power-aid, not to mention the donuts.
There is a steady stream of people passing our window as they make their way through the hole in the wall. Most wear back-packs and I now see the practicality in that decision.
There is a well used phrase but I ponder its' relevance now. "Don't judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes."
I especially like this echo from a book that impacted me in my high school days,
“You never really know a man until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1960
As I sit here thinking and typing by an open window. I see a woman pass by. She looks about my age and she is wearing a backpack. I wonder if she is walking to work. I take another sip from my cheerfully yellow coffee mug.
Jesus did so much more than look at us with compassion. He put on our skin, ate bread, thirsted for water, covered his feet in dust, endured temptation and when he looked at a person, he saw them.
As a child of the age of the prosperity gospel, I reflect on the Israelites and the admonishment that Moses gave them before they entered the promised land.
"Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery... Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth...'" Deuteronomy 8:11-17
And what is the command of God? "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." Deuteronomy 6:5 And Jesus quotes this verse to the religious leaders of the day and adds that the second commandment, "is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:39
In the comfort of our air conditioned apartment, as I type on my laptop and sip my coffee, I can hardly say that I have tasted poverty. But I do feel that I have walked through a wall. Thank you God for punching a hole in own unconscious judgement and giving me an opportunity to walk a short mile in another man's shoes.
I look out my window again and instead of seeing strangers pass by, I see my neighbors. Help me with the next part, Lord. The Good Samaritan part. When Jesus was asked, 'well, who is my neighbor?" He responded by telling the story of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan, well, he was a person who, in the midst of his regular day, saw a neighbor in need and he stopped to help.
Jesus noticed my need, and he stopped his own heart to help. And now, with his heart, I have the incredible gift of doing the same. Please keep removing the wall of judgment that I so easily constuct and give me courage to act when my neighbor needs help.
What would I do for a cup of coffee? Anyone who knows me recognizes my 'small' and happy addiction. But I want something more. Water.
"Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14
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