Charm & Hope

Denver is a new home for me & I am one of it's newest inhabitants, going on four months now. While I have spent sometime passing through this city over the years, there is a certain perspective I have only gained since I have begun receiving mail & paying rent here. There is this certain charm & hope which is nearly tangible when you take a winter walk through the park with fresh snowfall crunching beneath each step or exchange smiles with the frequenters holding the 'God Bless' signs at most major intersections. The attractiveness is enhanced with every glance westward as the city is back dropped by some of the most beautiful mountains our world knows, all of which are blanketed by Winter's glory. Denver holds opportunity & beauty but there is also a certain darkness that is augmented by it's immensity & even larger unfulfilled needs. The darkness is similar to that in other cities but such a large population can overwhelm even the best intentioned individual.

Just a few weeks ago a young women spoke at the very beginning of Sunday morning church. This particular Sunday is marked in my mind for the several feet of snow that lined the city streets leaving dozens of people nose diving their cars into snowy parking spots only to recover them with help from the congregation later on. As if parking in Denver weren't difficult enough to begin with. I scurried inside with my head tucked to keep the wind from slipping in my jacket & was immediately comforted by the warmth of the room where so many bodies were gathered to spend time with one another & with our Father. The young women began her introductions & shared a particularly moving testimony of her journey of faith in this city. This is my attempt to briefly recapture it.

After making a home in Denver her heart moved for the homeless where she joined others that shared her calling to help. Soon she was encouraged by others in the group to make her own sign & go to the intersections of Denver to gain perspective into this season of need for some. She was scared to do this at first & her pride made this decision even more difficult. She was not in financial need, a definite spiritual one, so she struggled to find the courage to write her sign (Anything Helps), choose her location & have the resolve to go. Going into this she knew that any money she did receive would be directly used for the homeless in the community, this helped motivate her.

The day came where she found herself on a popular & traffic dense street. She settled there, feeling out of sorts. Not but a few minutes later a man walked by eating a burger & handed her some spare change from his meal, passed along a smile & accompanying, "God Bless". This was all it took for her heart to break & so she turned to run after the man to return his money. With tears in her eyes she began, "Please, I don't deserve this. Take..." But she was cut off by the stranger closing her hand with the change still in it. He looked at her & said, "It is okay, I understand. I am homeless too." He walked away with a smile & I am sure God was smiling too.

God always offers His unfailing love & hope so long as we are willing to accept it & a brightness that no darkness can ever contend with so long as we are willing to see it. Where there is love, hope & light, there is God. Remember that when you walk down the street, go to work or school each day, lay in your bed at night that God is within you & because of that, "You are the light of the world". When you carry such a light within you there is, without a doubt,  a brighter side to everything.