Random experience in Chicago

I have writers block but I know if I don't write about something I won't make myself be in the habit of writing on here so I am going to share a very brief experience in Chicago.

We got to Chicago on Monday and when we got to Union Station we went straight to grab some food and blow a bit of time before we could check into our hotel. When I sat down, I saw a man begging for money. Not something you experience often in Chambana but it is something I have seen a bit too closely before. So he comes over to us and I talk to him for a moment, explain to him that we don't generally carry cash and ask him if I can buy him a meal instead (I don't like to give people cash anyway but that's a different topic). We get up to the hot dog place and I tell him to get whatever he would like to eat. He got a decent amt of food. Would have easily fed me for 2 or 3 meals (I hope it fed him for a couple of meals too) and I went to pay and my card was declined. It was pretty embarrassing. So I tried my credit card... declined. So then I tried Mr. Wonderful's debit... DECLINED. I was horribly annoyed and red-faced at the experience. I had just used my debit card at the place I had gotten my own food. I knew that MW had a $20 in his wallet so I finally walked across the cafeteria and got that from him so I could pay for this food. Seriously... I just kept thinking about what the woman taking my order must have been thinking about me as she slid three of my cards and all of them got denied. I was also wondering is someone stole my identity or if I didn't remember a big bill being auto-withdrawled. It all worked out in the end. He got a nice hot meal and I called my bank the next morning to figure out what the heck was going on. Apparently 3rd party transactions through a bank in the area had been forbidden for my banks cardholders. It was a protection thing because some security problems were going on in that bank with their customers and stuff.

But this experience taught me something. I guess I relearned something because I grew up realizing it was true but somewhere along the line I just got desensitized and overly optomistic in my own life. That man, in Union Station, who was begging for change to get something to eat could be any of us. As it turns out, this man had recently been in and out of the hospital on top of being homeless because he has gout. He showed me his legs and explained to me some of the treatment he had recently gotten to try and help him feel better. It was quite sad. That could be any of us. Any one of us could have medical problems that eats our income up and causes us to be in such need of help. Any one of us could have our identity stollen while we are away and be in need of help until we can get it worked out. There are so many things that could happen to make us need things, as seemingly simple, as food and shelter. I felt like, in this instance, I needed to help him. There was just something compelling me to help him. That "still, small voice" pushing me to make sure he got lunch on that Monday afternoon. And through the frustration of not having my own money working, I had to find a way to help him and I am very glad I did. I really learned some things about myself and about helping others through that experience. I am glad I didn't ignore what I felt was right to do. I would have really missed an opportunity to share love and kindness with someone and also the opportunity to experience real gratitude for something we often take for granted. You know how people say "God is good" and then someone else will reply "all the time" (if you don't maybe its just a Baptist thing. lol)... well, sometimes God can be good to someone through our obedience. I guess that was my overarching lesson through that experience. I want to be a person who is used to help others, I really do.

On a much less serious note...
This morning me and Super Muscles were getting ready to go to the store to get some ingredients we needed to make a friend who just had surgery a meal (never fear, we took Slobber Rocket along too). So SM is running through the house naked looking for clothes... yea I let him pick his own clothes most of the time and yea he looks goofy most of the time... and I notice him playing with his penis. So I say to him, "SM could you please stop playing with your penis". He looked at me straight in the eye like he was brilliant and said "well, I will just go into my bedroom and shut the door so I can keep playing with it". Okay then!