1839-SCAPEGOAT


Yesterday I went down to the local mission- I usually catch up with my homeless friends there.

I didn’t see Henry- but Michael showed up.

I met Mike around 20 years ago.

 [ just a note- on my blog- under the Feb. posts of each year I have a category called ‘Homeless’.

I write about my friends in these posts.

 I came to Corpus in 1992- most of the guys I met the first year or 2.

So you might read a post that says ‘I knew this guy for 20 years’. Then maybe in another post ’15 years’.

I don’t keep exact numbers- just realize I have known most of these guys since 1992]

The last time I saw Mike was around 2-3 years ago.

He was living on the other side of town- actually- more in the Mexican type area.

Now- I’m ‘at home’ in the Barrio- just like in the ‘white boy’ part of town.

Over the years I have been to the Govt. housing- visiting families- wives- kids- of my buddies that were in jail.

Lots of them were members of the church I started years ago.

So to me- race means nothing.

[Like I told my daughters friend one day ‘I’m not racist- I think Whites are only a little bit better than the other races’ Joke!]

But Mike- well- he was in the ‘bad part’ of town.

So he told me he moved back to ‘the Bluff’ and has a weekly room at the Plaza hotel.

A lot of the ‘homeless’ guys do have places- non permanent- where they stay on and off- this is Mikes thing.

He is working as a cook at the Golden Corral- a famous buffet in Corpus.

We caught up on old times.

Mike asked if I was gonna be around for a while- I told him yeah.

He walked back to the hotel- about 3 blocks- to show me his latest art work.

Mike is an A-1 artist- he has painted for years.

He even painted the signs for the apartments my wife manages [about 15 years ago].

He told me he just painted the for sale signs down the street.

The owner of Floyds Christian Restaurant is selling some land- Mike did the signs.

So he comes back with about 7 paintings- I mean beautiful stuff- all originals.

He paints ‘free style’ he doesn’t look at another picture- just from his mind.

I loved the paintings.

They were different than what I saw before.

Lots of birds- flowers.

 Shore line- boats- fish.

He used to do lots of gory stuff- skulls- Mega death stuff [rock group].

I asked him if I could buy one- he does not sell them- but he told me he would let me have one for the cost of the materials.

I bought a beautiful scene- some fishermen pulling in their nets by the sea- a huge pelican on the dock- and these great sunflowers peering over them.

15 bucks.

A steal.

I gave Mike a ride back to the hotel- he did carry all these pictures by hand.

We talked- for about 4 hours.

I have found the guys- who have mental challenges- like Mike- they really benefit just from having a friend to talk to.

It was funny in a way- I must have quoted 50 individual verses that fit the exact scenario that Mike was communicating.

I really don’t ‘preach’ much at all when I’m with the brothers.

 They know I’m helping them out [we often go out to eat] and they know I do ministry stuff.

But all these friendships are just that- these guys are simply friends I have made over the years.

But this day was different- I really taught Mike a lot of stuff- in a way that never really happened in the past.

Example.

He was telling me how he simply does his art on his own- most people don’t even know his talent.

When he brought the paintings to the mission- everyone was shocked that he actually painted them.

They have known Mike for years- yet they never saw his work.

So Mike told me that he likes doing his work in private- and simply enjoying the satisfaction of the paintings.

I told him that Jesus taught this ‘when you do your good works- don’t let the left hand know what the right hand is doing- do it in secret- and God will reward you openly’.

He said ‘yeah- that’s it!’

One painting he had sitting by the sink- he did not bring this one to the mission- was Christ on the Cross.

Mike showed me the nails in Christ’s hands.

He made them crooked on purpose- he said ‘my dad always told me I couldn’t even drive a nail in straight’.

He did this on purpose- in a way it was prophetic.

The painting of Christ- and the words that hurt Mike- the words he never forgot thru out his life.

He told me that in the past when he did artwork for various people [he has done portraits for hundreds of dollars- though he does not sell his own stuff].

That sometimes people take out their faults on the artist.

If they are dealing with problems they tend to pass them off to the artist.

As we sat there- with the painting of Christ- and the crooked nails.

I told Mike ‘this also is in the bible’

I went on to tell the story in the Old Testament of the Scapegoat.

Yeah- the Scapegoat comes from the bible.

In the Jewish religion at the time- you had the priest bring 2 goats- on one he would lay his hands- symbolically saying ‘we put the sins of the people on you’.

The one goat- the Scape goat- would then run away.

But they took the other- and sacrificed it.

I told Mike- this is what the Scapegoat is- Jesus himself bares the guilt and problems that the people bring to the table.

Mike once again said ‘yeah- that’s it’.

This went on for around 4 hours- I felt it was Gods way of communicating to my old friend- in a way that I never really was able to in the past.

He showed me an art book he bought from Barnes and Noble.

He really liked the way the author drew.

It was a teaching guide for artists.

It had quotes of all the famous painters of the past.

One from DaVinci said ‘the greatest mastery of all is the mastery of one’s self’ [paraphrase].

I told Mike ‘this too is in the bible’.

 I quoted from Proverbs ‘he that has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls- but he that rules his spirit is better than he that takes a city’,

Once again- it clicked.

 I took pictures of the paintings with my cell phone- I told Mike if they come out good I’ll try and post them on my site so my friends can see.

I looked at them later- they did not come out too good.

The one of Christ with the crooked nails- that came out good- I have that as my Wall paper on the phone.

Maybe my daughter will help me post it on the site?

I have known Mike a long time.

His dad was in the Navy and they moved to the city years ago.

Mike is from upstate N.Y.

I have written about Mike before- he seems to have burned himself out on some type of drug over the years- you can tell he has mental problems.

But he is very talented- he has always worked- as long as I have known him.

And he has been on and off the streets for years.

I think the story about the scapegoat really made an impact.

Mike is smart- he asked me lots of stuff this day.

About creation- and science- things that other Christians have told him to reject.

I told Mike it’s okay to believe in certain scientific ‘proofs’ and also be a Christian [he knew a lot about the natural world- and I have taught lots about this over the years].

So he not only ‘saw’ a lot of things from the bible that he never saw before.

But I also was able to show him how the bible does not go against science [I actually just posted a note the other day on this].

I told Mike ‘why don’t you title the Cross painting- The Scapegoat’.

Every time you walk in the room- look at the painting and realize Christ has taken all the guilt and pressure and stuff that others have put on you- he is the Scapegoat’.

Sometimes its easier to remember a story when its connected to an image.

That’s why Jesus told parables- stories that people could ‘see’ in their minds.

Yeah- the scapegoat- with the crooked nails- yeah- how can you forget that?

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

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