Party Last Night
The title says it all… there was a huge party last night! I bet you’re thinking, he’s in college, sure he goes to parties and does the whole college thing, it’s what he’s supposed to do. Maybe you’re thinking that, or maybe you’re thinking that there is going to be a little twist to this title, a little hidden play on words, something like that.. well the second case is what I was going for. But I’m not lying about the party, there was a big party going on at Winthrop last night, but my roommate and I made other plans, a different kind of party all its own.
I get sick of the same old stuff, but at the same time, I try not to judge. All I’m saying is that there is more to life, way more to life, than going out and getting drunk and having no true purpose to living life. Again, it’s hard to not judge, so hard. I’m trying to explain my feelings in an unbiased perspective, so bear with me.
My expedition began as a means to avoid going to this party last night. Even if I did end up going to the party, I wouldn’t have drank, that’s not my style. I just wanted to do something productive with my Friday night rather than be around people who were drinking. I was talking to my roommate, Matt, at dinner, and we were talking of things we could do, our list included: checking out the open mic night at our student center, just chilling out in our dorm watching a movie, or showing up to the party with a gallon jug of strawberry milk.. then we started talking about how cold it was, the temperature was supposed to drop to ten degrees! We were thinking of how it would be to be homeless, just having a couple of jackets to keep you warm in the frigid length of the night out on the street. All of a sudden Matt said, “Dude we should give them something. What about some hamburgers?” I was all over it. After dinner, Matt and I bundled up and headed for downtown Charlotte, which is only about fifteen to twenty minutes away. We stopped at Wendy’s along the way and picked up ten hamburgers, our night had just started.
We drove around Charlotte looking for homeless for around an hour, there weren’t any to be found! This is probably a good thing though, at least they were off the streets and out of the 10 degree cold. Feeling down because we still had all ten of our burgers, we decided to head to the bus station. If I was homeless, I would at least stay around the bus station, covered from any weather elements. We parked three blocks from the station and walked over. We even had spare change just in case we decided to ride the bus. Again, there were no homeless to be found, but a lot of busyness and people. As we were standing on the bus platform in the middle of the station, a guy with a black North Face approached us with what looked like dollar bills in his hand. He said, “Hey guys, you want a million dollars, here.” We were confused at first, but then he continued, “If you died today, do you think you would go to heaven?” He went on for another four to five minutes, talking about the ten commandments, and if we had committed any of these commandments. He also said that since we had committed these crimes, that God saw us as thieves, liars, or whatever else. He went on and said that there was a way for us to be clean of these sins… he continued on about Jesus Christ. He asked us if we were Christians and we said yes. Immediately after our reply he said, “We’ve got Christians in the house!” Some guys behind him came up to us and gave us high fives and hugs. Apparently, this guy, James, a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, and twenty other people, come out to the Charlotte bus station every other Friday night and spread the word of Jesus to random people, homeless or not. We then told him our reason for being down here and how we had five hamburgers each but couldn’t find anyone to give them to! We chatted for a while and then James got our emails and said he would be in contact with us to possibly join his “underground mission.”
After leaving the bus station, we finally found the homeless! At one intersection we saw a guy sitting on the ground against a building. To get to him though, we had to turn left, against the traffic on a one way street. Amongst the horns and lights, we asked the guy, Robert, if he was hungry and set him up with a bag of five Wendy’s double-stacked hamburgers. He was very appreciative and said that he would be praying for us. I think we made his night. However, we still had a bag of hamburgers to go. After another fifteen minutes of driving around, we spotted a dude carrying two clear trash bags of clothes walking past us on the other side of the street. I wanted to turn around at the intersection but no left turns were permitted until the intersection four blocks away. Finally we turned around and made a little square and looped up to try and find where he went. We saw him going down this one way street, but again we would be going against the grain of traffic. We finally caught up with him and he was more than thrilled to be getting five hamburgers. Mark was his name and he loved saying, “hell yea!”
So in an effort to avoid going to a party, Matt and I made our own little party downtown, hence this posts title name, “Party Last Night.” I can’t express the joy of giving to those who are in deep and desperate need. This will definitely not be a one time thing.
I started this post this morning when I woke up and it’s been on my computer since then.. it’s now around 5:35.. I’ve been adding to it at different places during the day, but finally have found the time to finish it here right at my desk in my dorm where I started. I went to watch the Arsenal game at noon in the locker room, then I went to the library for a bit right after, and now have come back here to do some calculus, then eat, then go to the basketball game tonight. We’re hosting UNC Asheville in a Big South Conference championship rematch game. A Fox Sports satellite/truck/van is outside of the coliseum. When I was leaving the locker room this morning, the Fox Sports guys were moving a thick black cable from their satellite mobile into the floor of the coliseum.. looks like the game tonight is going to be on the Fox Sports Network, sweet! It’s at eight.
Well I’m off to start my night, I’ll catch you later.
