Johnny's Grandma

He was a skinny kid with greasy, stringy hair and a bad case of acne.  He reeked of body odor and cigarette smoke.  I had picked him up outside Jayne’s Flower Shop.    His eyes were still swollen and red from crying .  He looked out the window as he continued to bite the skin around his thumbnail.  I handed him my cellphone and a Kleenex.  “Grandma, it’s me Johnny.  Yes mam.  I’m here with Pastor Cynthia.  No mam, you don’t know her, but she’s taking me to the bus station in Elmira and I’m coming home..  What?  She’s getting me a bus ticket to Sandusky.  Yes mam,  I’ll thank her.   I’ll be home around dinnertime tomorrow. What?   Yes, mam, I got me something to eat on the bus.  No mam, Pastor Cynthia bought me a submarine sandwich and a soda from a store called  Ted Clarks Busy Mart.  Love you too Grandma.”    He handed me back my cellphone and told me about how he had come to be in Waverly.  He said “ I came here  because of a girl named Rose.  But she threw me out last night after a fight. I don’t got no job or money or a place to live, so I’m going back home to live with my Grandma.   “ I’m gonna start going to church again, Pastor Cynthia.  My grandma makes  us go and she makes us say our prayers too. She said we should always thank God, but mostly I just ask God for things.  Like right now?  I’m asking God for a job.   I think I can get a job with Dave, my sister’s ex-fiancee.  He fixes cars and he told me once, he’d hire me and pay me good money-like $8.00/hour and he don’t take out taxes or anything.  It’s more than I’d make anywhere else and I like working on cars.  I’m good at it.  But I don’t got a HS diploma or a GED, so most places won’t talk to me about a job.  I’m a hard worker, but no one wants to give me a chance.  ‘So I met Rose in a Chat Room.  She said, ‘Why doncha come to Waverly to work’ and so I came.  But it didn’t work out cause we was always fighting on accounta money.  Rose, she was working two jobs and was always tired and complaining.  I tried to find me a job, but no one would hire me.  Guess, it’s cause I didn’t graduate from high school.  Rose?  She’s real pretty and smart.  I guess I can’t blame her for not wanting me around no more..  It’s not right for a man not to work”  He wiped away a tear. “It’s not like I didn’t try.  Every night I pray to God- mostly about finding a job- a good job, like a $8.00/hour or more job.  So maybe I’m supposed to go back to Michigan, Pastor Cynthia.  Maybe this is like an answer to my prayers.  My Grandma always said, God answers prayers.  And my Grandma’s right about ‘most everything.  She sure was right about me and Rose.  She told me not to go to live with Rose, but I didn’t listen.  But I know I’ll be okay ‘cause my Grandma prays for me all the time and from now on, she’ll be  prayin’ for you too.”

I was walking through one of the grocery stores here in the Valley; it was late and I was tired.  I needed just a few things, like milk and bread, and I whipped up and down the aisles just to see if there was anything else that I absolutely needed- and that’s when I saw them sitting there- little pine trees.  They were so cute.  And it’s not that I really needed need a baby pine tree, but who could resist the price:  $2.99.  They practically screamed, “buy me.”   So I selected the nicest one of the “grove,” so to speak, and put it in my shopping cart.  Now the tree was probably 2 ½ - 3 feet tall and it made it nearly impossible to see where I was going because the branches obscured my line of vision..  I rounded the last aisle and was heading back toward the checkout, when the accident occurred.  I never even saw it coming, because of the trees branches.  I slammed right smack into a display of birthday cakes- that was sitting right smack in the middle of the aisle. I won’t tell you what I said at the time, suffice it to say, I was totally ticked at myself and totally mortified.  I wished that I somehow could have clicked my heals together and ended up in Kansas.  There were at least four birthday cakes on the supermarket floor.  Frosting!  Crumbs!  It was awful.  My face was as red as a fire engine and my heart was pounding as I assessed the damage.  Each of those cakes had to be at least $7.00.   I added up the damage in my head.  It had to be at least $30.00 plus the tree- which was no longer a great bargain.  I was heartsick.  I bent over to start picking up the cakes.  One of the cakes was still edible- sort of- if you didn’t mind the fact that the frosting was all stuck to the container and the cake was in hunks.  I wanted to cry.  I knew that I didn’t have the $30.00 in my wallet- but I was comforted by the thought of my debit card until, I remembered it was home on my bureau.  Maybe they’d take a check for the damages?  I could only hope.  I just wanted to be invisible while I cleaned up the mess and that’s when the manager appeared out of nowhere.  I was preparing for a tirade on carelessness and accountability- and could hardly believe my ears, when he asked if I was okay.  He asked me over and over again, if there was anything he could do for me.  It was amazing. I had created a huge mess in his store and he was actually more concerned about me than the cakes.  Wow.  I was completely blown away.  He told me that he would take care of the clean-up and declined my offer to pay for the damage.  He said, “It was an accident and accidents happen.  It’s not like you did it on purpose.  So stop worrying about it.”   And so I headed to the counter to check out. I wanted to get out as soon as possible before he changed his mind.  I loaded my little pine tree into the car and shook my head in amazement.  I owed the store at least $30.00 in damages and I was let off the hook.  I wasn’t yelled at or put down for my clumsiness.  I wasn’t blamed, banished or banned from the store- but invited to come back again. I was sent away with a blessing.   The whole experience touched my soul deeply and reminded me of God’s amazing grace.  We can’t earn it and we surely don’t deserve it.. It’s simply a gift from God.  We are forgiven for our sins and shortcomings and loved without measure.  And because we are forgiven, we are called to forgive and to give others a second chance. 

“When Things Are Really Bad”

By Rev. Dr. Cynthia Huling Hummel

He was sitting in our social hall drinking a cup of coffee. I poured myself a cup and sat down next to him. His name was “Keith” and he was 18 years old. He said quietly, “I’m here because I didn’t know where else to go. My grandma always told us that if we ever ran into trouble, that we could go two places for help- to the police and to the church. And I can’t go to the police ‘cause they’re looking for my brother, Bobby. You see Bobby, took my cousin Susan’s car. He needed it real bad and he knew she’d say yes. But he got hooked up with some bad dudes and they were speeding on the highway and he wrecked her car in Sayre. Bobby left it there on Route 17 and ran away, on accounta he was scared. But the police traced the car back to Susan and she was really ticked ‘cause she knew that Bobby done it and so the police are looking for him. They got a warrant for his arrest. They asked me of I knew where Bobby was, but I don’t know. Honest! Me? I was visiting a friend here in Waverly and Bobby was supposed to drive me back to college- SUNY New Paltz- ‘cause that’s where I go. For real! I even have a student ID I can show you. But school started last Monday and I’ve already missed more than a week of classes on accounta this mess. I don’t know what to do. I ain’t got no money to get back to school. I’m afraid that my teachers are gonna report me to the Dean, and I’m gonna lose my scholarship. I couldn’t call cause I don’t have any minutes on my cellphone. I was bumming and that’s when I remembered what my grandma said about finding help at a church. So I’m wondering if I can use your phone and if you can help me get back to New Paltz.” Well, Keith called the college from my cellphone. Dean Jones was relieved to know that Keith was “okay. ” Together, we figured out a way to get Keith back “home.” At some point in our lives, most of us will find ourselves in a situation we hadn’t planned on. We make a bad decision, end up on the wrong path, in the wrong place and in a heap of trouble. In the story of “The Prodigal Son”, the younger son, heads off to a foreign land to look for “wine, women and song.” He squanders his inheritance and ends up flat broke. He takes a job tending pigs, so he won’t starve. It’s only when things are really bad, that the boy “comes to his senses” and heads home to ask his father’s forgiveness and for a second chance. Sometimes, it’s only when things are really bad, that we come to our senses. Keith came to his senses and remembered what to do. Like the father in the story of the prodigal, Dean Jones welcomed him back, just as God welcomes us back when we mess up: with joy, with forgiveness and love.