The Homeless Had a Name
Courtesy of Shelton,WA Memes |
I looked at the Facebook
picture and then tried to match it to the mental picture I had of the last time
I’d seen Brad. Then it got worse. Besides being homeless, he’d just been killed
when he stepped out in front of a car on a darkened highway. A tragic ending to
what most would call a sad life. Only God knows Brad’s full story.
As I rewound the decades, I saw
the pre-game excitement in late September. Like many rural towns across
America, football and Friday nights went together. Brad and his team were part
of a football dynasty. The fearsome athletes had a win-loss record reflecting
that.
Courtesy of Shelton, WA Memes |
But I have an old memory from the
ski slopes of Crystal Mountain. When I came into the lodge to warm-up after a long
run, Brad and his younger brother Lyle were sitting there.
We sat and
chatted about the best runs—they joked about who skied the fastest and who’d win
the race they’d soon have. My last sight of the two brothers was watching them laugh as they headed out for another run.
Brad became known not for
football, or a career, but for being the homeless Shelton man. It was
especially hard after Lyle died in 2011.
Brad faced unknown challenges, but thankfully he didn’t face them entirely alone, many folks helped provide food and assistance.
Shelton United Methodist Church/Facebook image |
My old church considered Brad their angel. They often fed
and sheltered him. A candlelight vigil for Brad was held there last week.
The homeless leave so little behind when they die. Or do they leave behind what God sees?
Brad left a legacy of people
who came to his assistance. The comments left on a Facebook post reflected the
care people had for Brad. Jesus said, “…just as you did it for one of the least of
these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.” (Matthew 25:40)
The image of two smiling brothers heading out to race down the mountain lingers in my mind.
Maybe heaven
has some awesome ski slopes.
This much I do know: homelessness became more personal to me. The homeless had a name, and it was Brad.