Gavin, His iPod, a Homeless Woman, Cookies, and 11 Cents...Compassion Converges on the Chicago River

Is summer really winding down?  That's hard to believe. We just returned from our summer vacation to Wisconsin and school starts in about two weeks. On our way back from Wisconsin we spent a day and a night in Chicago--mainly to take in a Cardinals/Cubs game at Wrigley Field. That was definitely an experience and it was fun too see so many Card fans away from Busch Stadium. After the game we road the train to the Loop area so the boys could see some of downtown Chicago. We had parked at Navy Pier earlier in the day so when we got off the train at around 8:00 we knew we were in for a 2 mile walk and we would eat dinner along the way. Fine with us because we wanted the boys to see some of the city anyway.

During our trek, we encountered something Gavin had never experienced.  We were crossing the Chicago River bridge and he was walking next to me holding my hand. At one end of the sidewalk crossing the bridge was a homeless woman--probably in her 30s or so. We kept walking and stopped in the middle of the bridge over the river while Lindy and I talked to the boys about the Chicago River. I had no idea what was coming next. Gavin's first statement, said in a way I knew he was shocked, was "Mama, that lady was homeless."  I affirmed what he was saying and thought it might end there. We had seen a couple homeless people already but they were men. I'm not sure whether Gavin didn't recognize that they were homeless or he was just struck by encountering a woman who was homeless. Either way, this was far from the end of the conversation. Immediately he said he wanted to go give her his iPod. (He has a little iPod Nano that he had been carrying under his Cardinals baseball cap that day on his head so it didn't get stolen. He's always thinking).  I told him that he was very kind for wanting to do that but since the lady was homeless she didn't have access to a power source for the iPod. Then, he said, "We have to do something.  I have to give her some money."  Well, Lindy and I were tap city with cash. This was the last day of vacation and we had $4.00 between us. I know.  We are notorious for traveling without much, or any, cash. I gave him a dollar to go back and give to her. Not sure why I didn't just give him the whole whopping $4.00 but I didn't. He ran back to her and gave it to her. He was excited when he returned because she had told him thank you.

I kind of thought that might be the end of it. We started walking again but the questions kept coming. Why was she homeless?  Where did she come from?  Where was her family?  Questions that I couldn't answer. I tried to talk to him the best I could on a level that an 8-year-old could understand. We walked along for a while and suddenly he said, "I have an idea!!  We should stop somewhere and buy some cookies. Then if we come across a homeless person we can give them a cookie."  He was trying to think about how he could somehow make a difference to them in a way that would be important to him. What's better than cookies, right?  I told him that was a great idea, but it was about 9:30 at night and I didn't know where we would get cookies at that time.

After that he was silent for a while but he still couldn't let it go. He said, "I have to do something for that lady.  I can't quit thinking about her."  He was really becoming quite consumed with the thought of her.  I told him that he could always pray for her. God knew who whe was and where she was and He would hear his prayer.   He told me that he wanted help praying for her so right there in downtown Chicago as we were walking along Gavin and I prayed for her. We prayed that God would send someone who could help her or that her family would find her and help her. We told God that we knew He knew exactly who she was, where she was, and that He had known her since she was conceived. We prayed that God would intervene in her situation.

Of course, we'll never know what happened to this poor lady but we know God heard our prayer and He saw the compassion of an 8-year-old boy that wanted to make a difference somehow. At this point, I think he had a little more peace about the situation and was able to let it go until the next morning....

We had stayed overnight outside of Chicago and when we were getting off the elevator to leave our hotel and drive home Gav handed me 11 cents. I asked him what it was for and he said it was to give to any homeless people we came across on the way home. It was all he had and he handed it over.

Oh my.  His sweet little tender heart.  If we can continue to foster his compassion and support him our little boy will accomplish life-changing things in his future. This side of him reminds me a lot of my Dad...one of the most compassionate, generous people you would ever have hoped to meet.  One of the things Lindy prays over our boys on a regular basis is that God would give them compassion for people.  In fact, I distinctly remember one night several years ago when Lindy was praying for Gav one night and he missed including compassion in his prayer.  Gavin said, "Dad, you forgot 'capassion.'"  No prayer ever goes unanswered and this one certainly is not with the Gav.  My prayer is that we would be sensitive to this compassionate nature that can either be made to flourish or stifled.  May we help to cause it to flourish.  His Poppy would be proud.





















Love to all,

Robin