The Bucket

Last night at the AfterHours Denver Christmas Shindig I told a story about our tub with a yellow lid. Except it's not merely a tub with a yellow lid.

Around AfterHours we call it "The Bucket." Denver Central Library gave us this bucket and adorned it with AfterHours Denver stickers. They even used their color printer to make them!

A few weeks ago, as I was delivering lunches someone called out to me, "Hey, Logan."

I looked over and saw Osage, a familiar community member and a man who has his fair share of experience with homelessness. I said, "Hi Osage."

He said, "I love to see you carrying something." When I asked him what he meant he said, "When I see you carrying something I know something good is going somewhere in the world." 

I told him how much it meant to me to hear that from him and as he hugged me and clapped me on the back he said, "It's f&%kin' true."

Osage is not the type to mince words. He's been around the block. It's not an understatement to say this guy is hewn out of rock. He's one of the toughest men I know: a marine who served in combat zones, homeless most of his life. These days he’s thinner than I’d like to see him. The truth is he’s dying of cancer. But every time I see him he has a smile on his face. And when he sees the AfterHours bucket he calls it out, he says, “Look at that—something good is going somewhere."

A few days after this encounter with Osage, I had a conversation with another homeless man named Charles. We were chatting about life and suddenly Charles looks at me and says, "The gospel of Jesus Christ is simple: you see someone who needs some help you help ‘em."

Some theologians may quibble about this. I'm sure we could get into a long discussion about the ins and outs of what the gospel is and how we understand it. But Charles is another one of those guys who has been around the block forever. He knows what it's like to receive care and he knows what it's like to give it. And he knows what it's like when that care doesn't come. When someone like that tells you, "The gospel of Jesus Christ is you see someone who needs some help you help ‘em," you just nod your head and try to really listen.

This is not merely a tub with a yellow lid. This is our bucket and in it we carry peace, hope, dignity, and love... Right now it’s full of lunches people will eat tomorrow. It isn’t just AfterHours bucket. It is a bucket of grace and it belongs to the Holy Spirit. This bucket belongs to all our partners, it belongs to the people we serve, it belongs to YOU.

For us this bucket is a small part of seeing someone who needs some help and helping them. Thank you for helping us fill this bucket week in and week out. We could not do this without you.