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Dear Friends of Grace in Action Article
Headline - A Miracle!

Dear Friends of Grace in Action,

I could see and hear it, but couldn't name it. It felt like a distant echo. In my mind I heard the sound of newspaper pages shuffled closed. The story made the front page, but the introductory words most likely caused many to shift uncomfortably and move on to the next story.

The opening line of the story read, "Local transient's legs were severed below the knee this morning after he was struck by a train..."

Transient...what does that mean? The first definition in Webster's says, "passing away with time; temporary" The second says, "passing quickly." The final definition is; "temporary lodger." Sadly, in today's society, "transient" is also an unkind label. It's a label for someone many of us choose not to see.

Ironically, the first definition of transient is how we treat those in the second .... fleeting ... passing quickly ... passing away with time.

Would the pages have turned if the story had begun with, "Local professor's legs were severed?" Or "Local businessman's legs were severed?" I wonder.

A part of me was angry at the label. I knew how many pages would turn after that sentence. Why the label? Was that necessary? Why not, "Local resident?"

Saul Castillo, is not a "temporary lodger in Davis." He's been here many many years and has as many friends as you and I, perhaps...even more. He worked here, had friends here, knew many people, laughed, cried, and had a family and a wife at one time. There was and is nothing "temporary" about him.

Transient. I don't like that word...at least not in the sense that it was used to define my friend.

These are the thoughts I choked on as I stood next to Saul's bed at the Med Center the day after the accident. His body swollen and bruised, bloody stumps where his legs should have been, respirator slowly pressing oxygen into his wounded lungs. How many people turned the page on this story because of that word... "transient?" Would anyone care about the continuing story now?

I held Saul's hand in mine. He wasn't able to speak, or see...but he knew, on that first day after the train hit him, that I was there. He gently squeezed my hand when I whispered his name. The tears burned as I begged, "Don't die Saul, please don't die! God is with you!"

As I drove home, tears still fresh on my face, I recalled better times. Like the day he excitedly told me about his dream, the dream that gave me the courage to pursue a ministry to the unsheltered homeless where God could be invited in. A dream that told of a sanctuary and sabbath rest from the elements, from being moved on by the police during the night because "camping" wasn't allowed. A place where the un-sheltered homeless could find a sabbath rest from the only other option that seemed available to them...drinking their pain away in the park somewhere.

Yes, Saul struggled with the disease of alcoholism. Yes, Saul lived out on the street from time to time. He also lived inside when he allowed the healing light of God into the shadow places of his disease. But just because he lived on the street does not mean he was "temporary" in any sense of the word.

He was, and is...still very much here.

The community of homeless individuals in Davis, as well as his sheltered friends, gathered together and held him tenderly in prayer in those long days of waiting after the accident. We joined hands in a circle and prayed daily, hoping...waiting...trusting...loving... crying...knowing...that Saul would make it. We also trusted that God, no matter what, is good and loving.

I must confess when I stood by his bed that first day, I wasn't sure he would make it. At one point, I was told by the nurse that he could lose an arm as well. His blackened hand seemed to confirm that news. But then God created a miracle. Out of that circle of love and trust and faith and the daring to believe in the One who makes ALL things new...a miracle was forming.

Saul was healing, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. Is there a headline here? "Miracle happens in downtown Davis" or, "The Miracle Man"....or...."Transient Transformed." No...that one won't work.

Maybe that's what we all need. A positive headline that doesn't focus on labels for those who have no home, or trauma or disease or fighting or war. We need a headline that says, Here is some "Good News."

Saul and I laughed yesterday when I visited him in the hospital. He showed me that the doctor had removed his stitches and then quickly told me of the conversation he had with his brother. Saul doesn't want to drink anymore. Instead, he wants to tell his story. He wants others to know just how much God has done for him. He wants people to hear The Good News.

Saul tried on several pairs of reading glasses. He was using the hand that was supposed to have been lost in the accident. The nurse came into the room and said, "Well it's Friday Saul." Saul laughed and winked at her, "Ahh, well...Friday, I guess I'll have to go out dancing!"

Saul wrinkled his nose at me and pretended to swipe away the reading glasses. "What, you're still so proud?" I teased. He KNEW he needed them to read the small print in his Bible. In spite of his vanity, I could tell he was glad to have them and would use them often.

I encouraged him to read Romans 8:28. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Saul smiled and tossed back his head and laughed heartily as he said, "I guess God is not finished with me yet!." In that very moment, I caught a glimpse of Saul as "The Laughing Jesus" in the picture of Christ that I keep in my calendar.

We said a prayer of thanksgiving and praised God together before I left his hospital room. We thanked God for second chances, for a family that Saul has been reconnected with after 25 years, for a circle of friends who believed in miracles because they believed in another "temporary lodger," Jesus, who said, " Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

I pray for the day when our community will look for the miracles, instead of the labels. And I pray for the day when we can all see the God who creates miracles in the lives of those who have no place to lay their heads.

Now wouldn't THAT...be Good News!

Saul and I thank all those who have prayed for and been witness to...God's miracle.

Peace,

Cindy

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