1839-SCAPEGOAT
Yesterday I went down to the local mission- I usually catch up with my homeless friends there.
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?
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook
Profile- I have posted lots.
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