Who's your friend there?

I had to call the police this morning. It's the first time in the two years I've worked downtown that I felt the need to do so.

I was standing at my post as usual this morning. A friend and regular customer came in and says, "Who's you're friend there?" I turned around and a gray-haired old man had his face plastered against the window behind me. His hollow black eyes were staring straight at me... or through me... motionless; expressionless.

My "post" is the front desk of a YMCA right in the heart of downtown. I open the ground floor of the six-story office building five days a week at 5 a.m.. Downtown is a hopping place during normal hours, full of business people and hipsters. When I arrive around 4:45 there is rarely any activity. At least not visible. I park two blocks away, and occasionally I will see a lone runner, or cyclist. Sometimes I will see a lonely soul on a bench or staggering along with their backpack full of hard knocks. There have only been a couple times when I was anything close to "scared." One should never feel overly comfortable in the wee morning hours though, even in a sleepy little city such as this.

So when I first saw the frail old black man, what with his unshaven face, hole-y sweat pants, jacket that had been his blanket and bed on many a night... I wasn't overly concerned. He was a wisp of bones and dirt, and didn't appear he could hurt a flea. But he wouldn't leave.

My desk is right inside the front door, which is off an open hallway between the street and the attached parking garage. The hallway also has an entrance to a bank, a set of elevators, and a stairway to the other side of the building and its nine floors. The 'awkward' thing is, from my desk I can look out onto the street (and people can look in), and there's a giant window right behind me where people enter from the garage and where the elevators are. So I very much sit/stand in a "glass house," so-to-speak, as people pass by. I am oblivious to it most of the time. However, in times like this, with someone staring a hole in my back, it can be a tad unsettling.

So, I went out and tried to spark up a conversation with "my friend." I could tell right away he was not 'all there,' though I wasn't sure if it was an actual mental condition, drugs, or years of hard living. I did the usual... asked how he was doing, was there anything I could help him with, did he need something... and he finally said, "blue." Ah... I was wearing a blue shirt. Well, I asked if there was somewhere he could go, or someone I could call. I knew there wasn't. Finally I just asked if he could move on, and I went back in the Y.

Well, shoot. He was still just standing there with his face and hands up against the window. I tried to look like I was doing something. Pretty soon he moved... Yeah, right in FRONT of the entry doors! So I went out again and tried to engage him. This time he said "towel." There are a stack of towels on my desk right inside the door. Ugh. Why couldn't he just go away?

Anyhew, in the still-dark of 6 a.m. on a Wednesday, as people are coming and going in nothing more than a thin layer of shorts and t's, and as his eyes lit up at a few females in particular, I told him once again it was time to move on. I finally got him away from the door... AND HE WENT RIGHT BACK TO THE WINDOW!!!

I told him he had two minutes to leave or I was calling the police. So, in five minutes, when he still hadn't left, I went out and called the police right in front of him. He came and watched me tap the number. Once I started talking, THEN he made a beeline out of there.

I called the non-emergency number and the lady on the line was super nice. She said she would send someone over (it's just a couple blocks). When the officers arrived and I described the guy, they said they knew who he was. He had just done the same thing in another building the day before. I told them he got on the elevator, but I didn't think it worked this early in the morning. They opened the door, and there he stood!

They were very gentle with him (which I was glad of), and finally, somehow, got him to slowly move along. He was not a threat to anyone, but definitely freaked people out.

After all this, I finally got around to reading my morning devotions. John 17:9-19. This is the beautifully intimate section where Jesus is praying for his disciples. Oh my...

"I pray for them..." Jesus prays to his Father. "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one." "...Sanctify them by the truth..." "...For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."

John 17 is one of my favorite chapters in all the bible (no, really). I have meditated on this passage many times; cried many tears; felt much comfort.

I have believed Jesus was praying for me. This morning I wondered... was he praying for "my friend"? And, while it may have been too late (I don't know), it did at least spark a prayer in me, for him.

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Lately I've been thinking... there's really not much that separates me from someone like "my friend." As I've tried looking for a job, as I've sat and waited while Jane was having medical tests... I don't know what I would do if I had no one, and no one had me. I'm not really employable anymore. Not in a "real" job with day-time hours and benefits and whatnot. This is not an old-white-man's world. I'm sure I could stock shelves on third shift or be a custodian or something. Part-time, of course. What then?

And then I wonder... what if that was Jesus looking in the window AT ME! Here I was, wishing he would leave, go away, not be "my" problem anymore. What if it was God himself, looking over my shoulder, wanting to assure me he was still there FOR me?

Here I was thinking so highly of myself, trying to protect everyone from "my friend," being all annoyed that he would think to interfere in our lives. I should have been asking Jesus to protect ME from the evil one...

Life is a funny thing. Sometimes I wish I knew all the answers. Sometimes I am glad I don't.

About all I know right now is... I need Jesus. Please interfere. Please forgive my ignorance. God, help us all.