Latest / Our Community, Our Mission / Ep #181 - A Drunk in the Street

Transcript

Ep #181 - A Drunk in the Street · Our Community, Our Mission

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Our Heavenly Father.
• 0:00
  Speaker 1: we thank You for this day and Your blessings and provisions.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: God, thank You for this time.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: God, thank You for our listeners who are listening right now.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: God, most importantly, we thank You for Your love for us and pray, god, that You would help us to see people as You see them.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: God, help us to love those around us.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: In Your holy, precious name we pray Amen.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Hello everybody.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: You're listening to Our Community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Resh a rescue mission.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: This is Barry Feaker on a special podcast here today that is going to unpack just a little bit of the first story out of a book that was written a little over 10 years ago called In Darkness a Light Still Shines.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: It's kind of hard to believe it's been over 10 years since that book came out, but it's a compilation of about 52 stories of my first 26 years as director of the Topeka Rescue Mission and different things that I learned.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I've heard a lot of comments about the book over the years.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: It's actually out on Amazon still today and you can find it in various countries around the world, which really surprised me.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: But a lot of the comments that I've received about the book are around the first chapter.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: The first chapter is called A Drunk in the Street And it was my very first day at the Topeka Rescue Mission on April 21st of 1986.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: I had never been to the rescue mission as far as in the facility itself until I became the executive director.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: That's got a whole long story behind it.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: There was no staff.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I was a very young man at the time and I had come into the building that day and I remember very much my first impressions of the first time in.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: I'm wearing a coat and a tie because I'm the executive director.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: I didn't know how to dress.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: I walked in and there was a little fellow by the name of Mr Betts and he was there at the front desk.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: He had been formerly homeless in Chicago.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: He was probably all of about four foot eight tall, he didn't have any hair and he had these little wire rim glasses and he was smoking a big old cigar.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Now he was the front desk guy.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: He was staying at the mission and he was the front desk guy And I remember he could barely see over the counter where he was greeting people as they would come in.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: He would be there at eight o'clock in the morning and I said hi, my name is Barry and very just, kind of plain spoken, He said, yep, i know who you are.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: And I said, okay.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I said this is my first day here.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: He goes yep, i said what do I do?
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Nobody told me what to do Here.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: I am in charge of everything.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: First day I don't know what to do.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: He said well, your office is around the corner.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: What I'd recommend that you do is that you would go in there and you'll find a set of keys on the desk, and I recommend you just stay there until it's time to go home.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: I said, okay, mr Betts, it's good to meet you.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: I remember him sitting in a big leather chair that was all held together with gray duct tape.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: And I walked into my office and there's this big old desk.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: It looked like it had been around since the days it came on the Mayflower And here was a set of keys and there was another big black leather chair held together with duct tape.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: And so I went and looked through some paperwork and kind of visited with a few people And the afternoon the phone rang and it was for me And somebody said you the director.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: And I said yes, sir, and he said well, this is so and so up the street on Kansas Avenue and just want to let you know that there's a drunk walking down the street headed to the mission And he's staggering back and forth right in the middle of the street.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I'm tired of these drunks and you need to do something about it.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: By the way, he's got his pants hanging down around his ankles.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: And so I said, okay, i'll see what I can do.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: And so I went out on the streets on Kansas Avenue, looking north, and sure enough, there was a man and he was shuffling feet back and forth walking down the street, coming south towards the railroad tracks, and about this time pretty much everybody who was staying at the mission at that time there was 15 to 20 folks and they all came out to see what I was looking at and of course I'm the new guy and so they're wanting to see how I'm going to react to this gentleman coming down the street As he was shuffling across the railroad tracks and he came up closer.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: I'm standing on the sidewalk and everybody's gathered around me and this gentleman came up to me with his pants hanging down around his ankles And he looked up at me And I said to him I said can I help you?
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: And he said yes.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: I said do you need a place to go?
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: And he said no.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: I said are you hungry?
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: He said no, i'm fine, and he kind of stuck his hand out towards me, took help him up on the sidewalk And so I stuck my hand out and helped him up.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Still, he's got his pants hanging around down his ankles And and, but he didn't look drunk to me.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: He looked like he was worn out.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: He looked like he had been outdoors for a very long time.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: He was older and he came up on the sidewalk and I said how can I help you?
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: And he says do you have a belt?
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: And I said a belt.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: He said yes, i can't keep my pants up.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: And he said I'm really sorry.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: He said, but I I was in a construction accident many years ago And and this man was pretty much pretty thin, he was pretty skin and bones.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: And he said my pants fell down earlier today.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: And he said my back just won't allow me to reach over to pick my pants up.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: And if there's any way that you could find me a belt.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: And I looked around to the guys that were hanging around me.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: I said hey guys, this is my first day here.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Do we have a belt around here anywhere?
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Some guy said, yeah, we could probably find you a belt.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: So guy took off to go get a belt.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: And I said to the gentleman I said is there anything else you could I could get you, like water?
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: And he said oh, yes, water would be great.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: And so he drank about five glasses of water down because he was so thirsty And I remember him just smiling and saying thank you so much And finally got a belt and I handed it to him And he said I'm really sorry, i can't bend over.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: And so he said would you mind pulling my pants up?
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: And I thought at that moment you know, ok, i'm the director, what do you do?
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: What do you do?
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Should I do that myself, or should I ask somebody else to do that?
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Or you know?
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: kind of a stupid question now.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: But you know, i passed the test with the Lord and the Lord said you better pick his pants up.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: And so I've been over, pulled his pants up and put this belt around him and tightened it around his waist And he looked at me and he said thank you so much.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: And I said is there anything else I can do for you?
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: And he said no, i am great.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: I said you sure you don't need a place to stay.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: He said no, i'm fine.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: He grabbed my hand very earnestly and looked into my eyes.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: He said thank you and God bless you And he turned and walked away.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: I never saw that man again after that day, but it really put an impression on my heart and and how we look at people, how we, how we, oftentimes judge people.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: He was judged to be a drunk in the street when in fact he was an elderly gentleman who, who knows what situations had happened in his life He had been hurt in a construction accident at one point in time.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: He may have been homeless, may not?
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: He never did tell me that.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: He said he didn't need a place, he just was looking for somebody to help him in his moment of need, which was to help him get his pants up and to get a belt around his waist and then get a few glasses of water.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: I went home that night again, first day at the rescue mission kind of an eye-opener and I walked into the house and my little girls at the time and my wife said how was your first day at the rescue mission?
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: I said pretty interesting.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: They said what you do?
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: And I said I gave a guy a belt.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: They said that's it.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: I said yeah, pretty much that was it, but it was an important belt to give him.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: As we look at people out on the streets today or standing in food lines or driving up, as we look at our youth in our country today who are really searching for meaning and value.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: People just need to be seen And they need to be heard and they need to be valued, and sometimes what we can do for them is as simple as a belt to help people to know how value they are And for us to fill the assignment that God is giving us to love our neighbor as ourself.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: So thank you for listening to our community, our mission and helping the Tipeka rescue mission hand out thousands and thousands of belts since that first day at the rescue mission, and so much more.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: If you are interested in finding out more about the Tipeka rescue mission, you can go to TRM onlineorg.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: That's TRM online Org.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: If you're interested in that story and and a few others like it, there's a book called in darkness, a light still shines that you might be able to get it to the Tipeka rescue mission and you can definitely get it on Amazon.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: If you'd like to help us put the word out about our community, our mission, you can subscribe, rate or share.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Thank you again for listening to our community, our mission.