Pretoria

Tony threw his 7 Rand change on the floor a couple of feet in front of us - I was shocked and a knot tied itself in my stomach, his following sentence confirmed the motivation behind his action which challenged me and I hope will challenge you.

"I don't need this money" He said "I need Jesus - I depend on him!"

He was welling up and so was I, though I think I hid it quite well (you get good at that if you live in "I am an O.K. Christian" pretence  for too long).

Honking is illegal - not that it stops the taxis

The wisdom of throwing money away aside, his actions spoke more loudly than his words ever could...  

About 10 minutes previously as I was sat down next to him when a friend approached him, handed him 2 cigarettes (one of which Tony offered back to his friend) and 7 Rand change. As far as I know that was the sum total of the money he possessed.

The junctions can be a little crazy

Tony has been living on the streets of Pretoria for the past 6 months since he had a stroke which left him unable to continue working as a panel beater. He is applying for disability benefit  but his situation is still pretty desperate. His second stroke which re-hospitalised him until just a few days prior had stopped him from being able to function well enough to walk further than a block before collapsing.

The stroke had also removed all sensation from his bowels so he is completely unaware of having soiled himself again until someone points out the smell to him.

He lives day by day and he values God more than money.

I had just been trying to comfort him with some scriptures that I knew (I was not carrying a bible with me). He had mentioned Matthew 6 earlier when we had offered to pray for him - he reminded me that I did not need to pray aloud on the street corner for the world to hear, only God needs to hear and he can hear your thoughts just fine!

Later in Matthew 6 Jesus teaches us not to be anxious about what we will eat or wear. I started telling him and he completed my every other sentence, despite not owning a copy of the Bible he knows it very well.

I was not expecting the reaction that I got, it is one thing to remember the word of God, it is another entirely to live by it on a daily basis.

The second event that put a knot in my stomach was seeing people walking by on the street (sitting next to a homeless person on the street is about as close to their perspective as you will get until you are there yourself).

The 7 Rand had been lying on the pavement in front of us a couple of feet away for about 5 minutes before a guy walked past looked at us, saw the money on the floor, picked it up and walked on.

"See - his life revolves around money instead of God", said Tony.

Tony understands that he has more than the young well dressed man who will take 7 Rand for himself instead of giving it to those in need less than 5 feet away, because he has Jesus who is so much more valuable than any sum of money.

An exert from my journal

I talked to him for an hour and a half with the intention of blessing him - I bought him a coke (on his request) and I came away blessed and challenged by him.

Title font 'Lois Ann'