Miracle at Listening House
by Jennifer Pedalty

One wintry evening when our team was setting up for foot washing, Justin, a young fellow who'd been a frequent guest, slipped into the room before others arrived. He settled in a chair and told us his story of financial woe. He'd been a student at school for massage therapy since the Fall of 2007. Now, a few weeks into the Winter semester, he'd begun to fall behind in his courses because he didn't have money for books. He wanted to know if we could help-if our church could give him money for books.

My gut reaction was that this was a ruse-that he'd figured we were an easy mark for some fast cash because we'd encouraged him and prayed with him about his dream of finishing school and becoming a massage therapist. On the rare occasions that homeless guests ask for money, we turn them down, explaining financial help is not the kind of service we offer. Despite a clear policy, it's never easy to find the words to say 'no.' That was especially true now, with a young man we'd come to know and like. I panicked, scrambling to find a way to answer him, while at the same time wondering if he was telling us the truth.

I needn't have worried. Carol, one of our foot washing partners that night, sat down next to Justin and did exactly what we aim to do in our ministry-she listened. In the next five minutes she gave Justin her full attention, gently and patiently exploring with him the options for getting the books he needed through channels at school. When it was time for prayers at the end of that foot washing session, Justin asked us to pray for him to get those books.

The following Wednesday Justin wasn't on the Foot Washing sign up list, but Carol found him out in the Listening House "living room" and asked him how his week had gone.

"Doing fine," he answered and started to walk away, but then turned back and said, "You know what happened to me? I was walking down the hall at school, and this lady stopped me and asked me why I never had any books with me. When I told her why, she took me into the bookstore and bought me all the books I needed."

"The look on Justin's face," Carol relayed to me later, "told me that at the very moment he was telling me what happened, it dawned on him that there might be a connection between his prayer for books the previous week and the stranger's gift."

Once again I'd had a glimpse of the kind of living God calls us to, where open-hearted listening-without judgment-opens the door for grace to enter.