Bill's Window Washing Business

cc from flickr.com

Again, on the paper route I accomplish every morning with the Lords help, I ran across Bill digging through the dumpsters. Bill is one of many of the different men I've met who are looking for cans, which they can make .05 cents from, early in the morning. When I first talked to Bill I found out he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior, praise Jesus. God had me do a little more than just a couple bucks and a Bible though this time, I'll explain.

Bill came from Arkansas, and said he was getting away from a bad scene where nothing good was there for him. Knowing the heavy occultism in Arkansas and the Ozarks, I simply imagined he was indeed sincerely trying to break free from something likely very dark in the South. He made it to Oregon and now was rummaging though the apartment trash bins looking for recyclable cans and whatever else he could make some money off – maybe even some food if it looked good?

I could tell the middle aged hearty Bill had been through a lot just by sensing his humility and yet reservedness in his stare. He was a sober fella, a good sort, short hair, clean clothes, and looking to get on his feet in this new land with a new start. He knew me although I didn't know him, cause he said he saw me every morning delivering papers. After I thought about it, yeah- I did see this guy riding his bicycle with his flatbed trailer on it. In the wee hours of the morning, everyone who I come into contact with I'm a bit weary of at first for good reason. I hold my taser close and make sure I'm not too far away from my running car.

After talking to Bill a few times over a month or so and giving him a few bucks and a Bible, God must of put it on my heart to offer him more. One raining morning when it was nasty out, there was Bill fishing around in a nasty dumpster and I asked him “how ya doing Bill?” Kind of a stupid question, but he said he was doing good, and I think sincerely he was doing better than most people in the world who have their cushy jobs perpetuating this beast system in meaningless ways.

Well, I got to talking to Bill about starting a window washing business. In the end, I offered to help him get it started after he seemed on board to do it. He had a nice flatbed trailer on his nice mountain bike, so he had the transportation. I also found out that Bill's regular line of work was commercial door repair. Well, I offered to help him get this window washing business started, so I got his number (he has an Obama phone) and told him I'd call him later.

Later on this day when I was ready to give him the money, he never answered. The next day a man knocks on our door and serves me notice that I'm being taken to small claims court for $550 for a doctors bill. This was from an bleeding ear ache I had a few years ago. We had to pay this within a couple weeks. This was tough, cause I wanted to give Bill about a $100, and now this made it difficult to do. We resolved to still give him the money though.

I saw Bill a few days later and told him I tried to call, and then I told him what happened and that we were still going to give him the money and help him, just give me a bit of time. He may have been disappointed, but didn't show it and we said God bless and went on our ways in the dark early morning. Come to think of it, we've only ever seen each other in the dark early morning.

A couple days after this, after we'd paid all our bills for the first part of the month and knew what we had left, I saw Bill again. This time I was resolved to give him all the money I had in my pocket (which was $60), because I knew it was a lot of money for him. See, it's difficult to gather up enough money to do anything significant in his position although he did work hard. So, I talked to Bill and we discussed the business and how much it would cost to do this and that. I then gave him $60 and told him I was going to order him some business cards as well. I just wanted to know if he was serious and was going to spend the money on window washing equipment. He assured me he was, and I believed Bill cause he is such a humble and broken spirit hungry for work. The light of Jesus Christ is in Bill, so I knew God was watching after the man. OK, so good God bless and see you later.

After I left him, I realized I had the notebook I wanted to give him in the glove box (this had some extra job opportunities in it as well), so I turned back around after delivering a few papers to try and find Bill. He's already moved on to a couple dumpsters down. I also realized I had this envelope in the dash under my Bible. This envelope was something a paper route customer gave me earlier that morning – he actually waited up for me til 3am to hand me this card. I checked what was in it, and it had $20 in it! So, when I caught up to Bill, I gave him the notebook, pen, and the extra $20. He was very grateful and kept saying thank you Robbie. I was already in the car zooming off and I was saying no, thank you Jesus.

See, sometimes we don't realize what $80 can mean to a person like Bill. That amount of money is what many people spend in one evening going out to dinner, but for Bill this could mean the difference of getting a window washing business, which could lead him to getting on his feet again and really making a difference in other people's lives for Jesus Christ. Bill does have a place to stay, with some friends, but these things can be tenuous and not always secure. Also, getting a job isn't always as easy as people think when you are in the shape he's in. For someone with means it takes nothing to get a job and start anew, but for a person who starts with nothing, getting over that initial rut of poverty can literally take years of focus and sober effort. And when you take into account that most people in the streets are there because of tragedy that happened in their lives, well you can see the forces that keep them stagnant are very formidable.

I don't know what will happen with Bill, if the window washing business will succeed or even if it will happen. All I know is I'm taking a chance with someone because he is a brother in Christ and God is going to get the most bang for his buck with this $80 gift. Just think, what if I see this man in the community my wife and I serve washing some windows for the businesses of which we visit! Won't that be an awesome sight to see honest labor being done and not only a good Christian man getting paid, but also gaining that honest labor of which his means come in the grace and goodness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I mean, down here in the trenches, we don't have anyone else to attribute the light to, cause it for sure isn't our lowly selves getting anything done in this unnatural beast system we are being oppressed by.

All glory to God in the name of Jesus Christ for all good things, and for using Jesus Loves Ministry in this small matter with such big importance for Mr. Bill. God bless reader, and remember the theme verse for this blog (below the Blog title up top).  And hey, say a little prayer for Bill's window washing and commercial door repair business please, thanks.