So I’m not usually the type to believe the “all things happen for a reason” type of theology, and I’m not saying it was God’s plan to have me lock my keys in the car today, but instead it may have been exactly what I was asking God to show me....

I was sitting in the Walgreens parking lot, looking at the ice on the branches in the trees in front of me, seeing tiny flakes of snow hit my car and melt on the still warm hood. The whole time pondering the day to day life of my homeless friends now that winter is showing its beautiful ugly face. I was thinking of one day purposefully staying out, walking with someone I know who lives outside, just to be part of the day-to-day, staying a night in Salvation Army, or “sally’s” as it is known here, during what is called “white flag,” when there is bad weather the staff appoints a person they trust to stay up and keep watch over the mass of people that file in for a matt on the floor or a couple chairs in the shelter. I was contemplating all this while waiting for one of the first people we met here in Louisville, who is experiencing homelessness.

I had called him earlier on his prepaid cell phone that he walks to the nearest Cricket store to renew for a dollar each day. I asked where he was at, we had not seen him in a while, due to the holiday rush, moving, and our schedules. When my phone rang, he had just got off the bus, so I left my car to walk out and meet him. I asked how he had been, and got the honest answer he almost always gives me “I haven’t been doing too good Alex.” I told him I wanted to take him to dinner and that we had some warm clothes donated to us that I wanted him to look through. As we walked up to the car I noticed that I didn’t have my keys... there they were sitting in the center console.... doors locked. i commented on how stupid that I was, and that I had locked myself out of the car. He suggested asking people around if they had a coat hanger, he said he might be able to open it if he had something to stick in the window. We had no luck and I walked to Melissa’s work down the street to get her keys.

On the walk over, realizing that my hoodie sweatshirt and jeans were not keeping me as warm as I would like, I looked around and started to examine the trees and buildings I had seen before but not being sheltered in my car, they felt more real, as if I had only seen them in a photo before, and now I was seeing the real thing. The walk took the path of a street I drive down every day to drop off and pick up my wife from work. I thought to myself about how this is reality for people living outside, these walks, this cold, not just for a half hour, but all day every day, the vulnerability and rawness of walking along the side of a busy street in a downtown area each day - and now the blistering cold.

I started to walk but as the sun went down the cold got much harsher, so we ducked into a Taco Bell and sat and talked for a while. Eventually A good friend came and picked us up and took us by the house to get my extra car key, bringing us back to the car and back to "normal existence" but the whole experience was rather interesting...

It might seem silly, many people - homeless or not - walk in the cold day to day, but I feel like a got just a very small taste of what it is like to live on the street, mostly because of not having the ability to just hop in my car, turn on the heat and go wherever I want in minutes.

I also had to rely on others for help, which is something I have learned over the last couple years, is not that bad. The western world seems to regard independence as the highest state of being, and we have been realizing that this thinking isn’t of God, but our sinful nature, yearning to believe the false notion that we can do it ourselves, and that we don't need God, friends, family or anyone else to get by. We are finding out that the Kingdom comes through interdependance and admitting that we need God, and each-other.

I don’t know what this little story may mean to someone reading this, but I feel it is something worth sharing, our journey toward community, and our little steps, the little unexpected lessons we learn along the way. Learning that "our" and "we" are words we need to remember.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been helping stock our donation closet, we are just getting started getting the clothes to those who need them, but it is a great help!