My Friend Wino.

Just as a starving girl in a foreign country
Cannot understand bulimia
So too the homeless man cannot understand our loneliness
He asks for money
But that is not really what he wants
He doesn’t even want drugs
No-- He just wants you to look at him

Imagine a life where you are truly alone
(No, he doesn’t have the luxury of fighting with his wife or kids)
Imagine a life where you never get to look into the eyes of another

We judge him
The only name others call him is Wino
He wears his shame in his smelly clothes
(Even thinking of his lifestyle makes me want to drink)
We pass him by on our way to church
The preacher reads the words of God:
Whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you did to me.
He does not preach on this
No-- He just want you to look at him
Our friend Wino is the only consistent one
The Lord is more present in him
Than in our churches.

Wino doesn’t want you to give him anything
Rather, he wants to able to give you the only thing he truly owns:
His name.