Panhandlers

The Shell station on the corner of 9th street and I-30 access road in downtown Little Rock is not one of my favorite places to stop at night but I had to use the bathroom and knew if I didn't stop for gas there I would likely be walking several miles to the nearest gas station. I looked around and pulled up to a pump; everything seemed to be clear this time so I get out, lock my door and go inside to the restroom. Before going back outside, I stop at the register and pay for $14 in gas, all of the cash I had on me. This was on purpose, remembering the last time I stopped at the gas station. 

"Nice jacket, can I have it?" a man asks me as he approaches me next to my car. In my head: "Is he serious? You know, it is cold out here, maybe he does need it." It wasn't long before he said, "just kidding." Did my surprise show on my face? Regardless, he continued talking to me. "I'm from Missouri and I don't have any place to go. The Mission only lets you stay one night. I tried to steal some vienna sausages earlier but I got caught. Can you spare any change, even a dime would help." In my mind: "There are multiple shelters in Little Rock and I don't think that any of them have a one-night policy. And if you were caught trying to steal, how are you standing here?" What I said, "I just spent my last cash to buy gas. Let me finish pumping and I will go inside and buy you something to eat." I place the nozzle in my tank and begin (or think I begin) pumping gas and notice by this time a second person is standing five or six feet behind me. At this point, I have become nervous. The first guy continues, "Thats. OK, I am meeting a friend and hes got some KFC for us..." I realize I haven't flipped the gas pump on and say, "I guess this works better when you turn it on," I say to the two of them with a slight laugh. The second guy agrees. The first continues, "But you could buy me a pack of Marlbro cigarettes. I could sell them for 50 cents a piece and make a little bit of money."

"I'm not going to buy the cigarettes," I tell him. "I'll buy you something to eat but no cigarettes. The first man continues to try and convince me, but I'm not giving in on it. Again in my mind: "What if I did buy these for him and he sells them to a minor? Plus, you probably have to have a license to sell cigarettes and thats just going to get you in more trouble." The second guy starts talking and telling me how he had been in prison and liked it there becasue all the white people kept their distance. "All I had to do is show them this," he said as he pulled the front of his shirt up to reveal a scar. 

It is eventually the second man who takes me up on the food and he begins to explain that he wants one of the hot jack links sausages being very specific. "You might want to come in with me," I tell him. He sends the first person in with me who wasn't much help in choosing the correct one and then he picks up a bag of chips for himself. At the register he begins pointing to the newspaper and talking to me again as I try to run my credit card completely blocking out the cashier who was apparently asking, "debit or credit?" The man continues talking and asks me what I think about the Grand Jury's decision in Ferguson. At that point I am thankful I can honestly say I have purposely remained ignorant on that current event. Yes, I know it was about excesive force by law enforcement, but the remainder of the case I have remained out of the loop on. That is one news quiz I am happy to fail tonight as I could answer that I hadn't been following the story and couldn't answer the question.

We walk out of the store and I hand him the bag of chips and speed up to hand the other guy the sausage. "Only one?" he questions. "I'll take one." I then head toward my car, wanting to get in as soon as possible. "I love you brother," the second man shouted as I opened the door. "Likewise," I yell back.

Now, safely at home I am left to ponder...did I do the right thing(s)?

• I've been reading a book, "How to help the poor without hurting them or yourself." One of the main points it makes is that by simply giving 'handouts' we are actually making things worse for them and even ourselves. Instead we should work alongside them, building relations and helping them grow to be self-sufficient. What kind of harm might my buying the food have caused?
• Matthew 5:40, 42 says, "And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well...Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." Should I have immediately taken my jacket off and given it to him? What might God have done if I had?
• Was my fear/nervousness obvious? When the second person approached and stood behind me, I have to admit my thoughts were going toward, "I really hope I don't get stabbed/robbed." And having these thoughts made me wonder, "Am I being judegemental?" Forgive me.

Adventures at Longpool

Adventure is never far away in Arkansas, with so many places to get outside and enjoy nature. Adventure hasn't failed to find my family during our now annual trip to Longpool Recreation Area near Dover, Ark. I wrote last year about one of my most interesting Geocaching experiences (see Ghosts of Spanish Conquistadors). On our first night camping at Longpool, we attempted a night-cache located nearby. We didn't find the cache due to a crowd of people, but we did find ourselves semi-lost in the dark (if only because we were trying not to be seen).

This year my sister didn't come with us and we planned on attempting it again. After we set up camp we decided to go swimming while it was still daylight. Rather than swim much, we walked in the water upstream to some rapids. As we came closer to the rapids, we saw a trail (or a dry creek bed) and had a pretty good idea it would lead us inland to the waterfall. If it didn't we would just turn around and go back the way we came. Sure enough, it wasn't long before we came out and intersected with the main trail at the waterfall. It was our first "hike" barefoot through the woods and around the rocks. It was interesting to think about all the indigenous people who might have lived this way in the past.

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As the light began to fade, we decided we had better get back to the water before it got too dark. We hiked down from the waterfall and began to follow the creek bed until arriving at a tree and brush in the way. "I don't think this is the way we came," I told my niece and nephew. "I don't remember crawling through all of this."

My nephew said it was the wrong trail and he saw the trail further back. So we followed him down the alternate path as the light continued getting dimmer and dimmer. Eventually the trail closed in around us and we found walking barefoot through the weeds. It wasn't long before there was no trail at all and no clear way to the water. I don't want to go running through a lot of weeds and brush with the number of snakes I have seen this year; I have no desire to be bitten. We turn around and try to find our way back to where we started from, at least we could hike out using the main trail if we had to. By this time, it had become difficult to see; of course we had arrived by water rather than land. So we end up deeper into the woods. Panic is beginning to set in. "I really don't want to spend the night out here in the dark with no shelter and no good way to start a fire."

We continued walking, searching frantically for any sign of a trail to the water or back to the waterfall. By this point we were running through the woods, stepping on thorns with our bare feet.  My niece began complaining that she could not see me; I was less than ten feet in front of her. I squatted down and said a prayer. Before long we came to another deer trail and I told my niece and nephew to stay where they were and make noise. I would go ahead on the trail to see if it went anywhere and if not, would follow their voices back to prevent us from getting separated. It was a major relieve when I came to the edge of the creek and called my niece and nephew down.

It seemed that not only was camping at Longpool becoming an annual trip, but becoming lost in the woods on the first night was too.

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Back at camp, we decided we had enough adventure for one night. Rather than going geocaching we just prepared for bed. After placing our non-refrigerated items in the car we took our showers and went to bed. It wasn't ten minutes before the commotion started outside our tents. I think I slept a total of two hours Friday night with all of the raccoons rummaging through the metal garbage cans, meant to keep wildlife out. Of course, the most annoying part was listening to them in our campsite.

About two hours after going to bed, I rolled over and said to my nephew, "I don't think we are going to have breakfast in the morning." He asked me why not. "I think the coons are eating it all." We got up and went outside to see what damage had been done; sure enough we had been robbed. The animals (I won't say it was all racoons) had taken our ham, hot dogs, mayonnaise and bacon. Of course, it wasn't until Saturday evening I found they had also tried to eat my can of bug spray.

On Friday and Saturday evenings we enjoyed watching the wildlife (although were slightly annoyed with the noise they were making and the fact they robbed us). Animals we saw:

• Mouse
• Raccoon
• Skunk
• Cat
• Deer