Newspaper article about my friend James

Hinshaw: What would Wesley do?
creede hinshaw | Friday, March 13, 2009 at 12:30 am

(Photo: Savannah Morning News)
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This is a true story about two metal outstretched hands on Reynolds Square.

I basked in the sunshine last Friday morning on a park bench in Reynolds Square (the northernmost square on Abercorn Street), having pedaled my bike downtown in the glorious weather. Azaleas were already abloom there. A mockingbird graced the square with song and a honeybee perched on my blue jeans enjoying the sunshine with me.

A bronze John Wesley presides over Reynolds Square, standing atop a pedestal and garbed in his English vestments, his left hand holding a bible and his other arm outstretched in the direction of the Lucas Theatre.

The nearby historical marker quotes the sculptor as saying, "Wesley's right hand is stretched out in love."

On a bench across the way sat a woman with a hooded sweatshirt and a plastic bag stuffed with her possessions. Soon a lanky blue jeans-clad man, carrying a bedroll sat on the bench next to mine. He lights a cigarette and we strike up a conversation.

He is in his early 50s, he says, an ex-con twice over having spent 10 years "paying his debt to society" as he describes it. He's been in Savannah six months and wants to find a full-time job as a roofer or a carpenter, but nobody's hiring... especially ex-cons.

He gets odd jobs, but never enough to afford a room for the night. And so he sleeps in ditches and homeless shelters.

We talk about the twists and turns of life. He says he would never have imagined 30 years ago that he'd in his present situation. I ask him about his parents. Could he stay with them? They are in their late 70s, he says, and it's all they can do to care for themselves, so he doesn't burden them.

He's come to Reynolds Square because Christ Church serves a free sack lunch later in the morning and he's going to wait in line soon. I must look trustworthy to him because he asks me if I'll watch his bedroll while he finds a bathroom.

Returning to the square he moves to "my" bench and spotting my newspaper asks if he can read the sports section. He reads while I write in my journal. We talk some more and he is on his way.

Later, as I leave the square, I notice the depiction of another outstretched hand, this one emblazoned on a metal sign affixed to a post at about eye level. The open palm of the hand has 40 cents falling into it, dropping as if from heaven. But the hand is encircled in bright red with a red slash running diagonally across the palm. Beneath this symbol are the words:

NO PANHANDLING

City Code 9-1001

I am glad this warning stands at John Wesley's back where he cannot gaze upon it. I believe he would disapprove.

The benches in the square are not church pews, but they could be. And the people sitting on these benches, many of them poor, are not Wesley's parishioners, but they probably would have been.

It may be against the law to beg for food or money in Savannah. But it's not against the law to give voluntarily, and I'm glad churches are freely doing so.

__________________________
James called me tonight because someone had told him about the above article. He was very upset, to say the least. The person that told him about the article, also told him they published the location of the ditch he sleeps in. He was afraid he would be arrested tonight after he laid the shower curtain down on the cold ground and then covered himself up with his blanket.
After reading the story about him, I called him back and read it to him. He felt much better about the contents and the fact that he would not have to find another "safe" place to sleep.
James is a sweet, sweet man who loves The Lord. He is trying to have faith that God is going to pluck him out of the valley that he is in. He told me tonight that sometimes he stays up all night, under an entrance to a business, where there is light, and dives into God's word. When was the last time I stayed up all night with The Lord?
Later on this month, James has a job for about one week, helping another man that I have blogged about earlier. David was homeless when he first started coming to the park to feed on Sundays. Eventually, he found a place to live and is now in the process of starting his own construction business. That is who is giving James a chance to make some money this month. James is planning on using that money to rent a room for a couple of weeks. With all of his heart, he is trusting in The Lord to provide the means to stay in that room, indefinitely.
Please pray for this incredible, humble man, whom I am proud to call my friend. Pray big. Don't ask God to do something small in his life, but to move mountains for His faithful child.
P.S. At the end of Hinshaw's article he said that he was glad it was not against the law to give money voluntarily. He gave James $20.00 as they parted ways that day.