Homeless and hungry....

So, I did something without giving it much thought today. As I was leaving training for Scottish Rite there was a homeless man standing with a sign at the light. His sign said "homeless and hungry". Having just reached into my bag and pulled out an energy bar (homemade I might add :) ) and brushed up against an apple, I rolled down my window and said, "I have an apple, would you like it?" The kind man walked up to my window and said, "thank you, yes, how is your new year getting started, how are you?" I told him I was good but that my husband had lost his job. He shook his head and said he hoped Obama could do something and feared the world might be coming to an end. He then said he thought God might just be angry and fed up. I said "amen to that". But i also countered with the fact that maybe it was just a good wake up call for everyone. He said many mornings he woke up and told God he would be better off up in heaven with God, not here. He told me how some people had offered him a place to sleep and how he had heard about a place in Toccoa that might help him get a fresh start. I told him about Trinity and the soup kitchen and the ministry that they have there for men that was similar to what he was describing. He told me he had been married a long time but now he was divorced and felt very alone. I said, "well if you know the Lord you are never alone." He said, "I know the Lord, I know the Lord." The light changed and he said God bless you and I said the same and drove off.
In hindsight I wished I had told him that yes heaven would certainly be better but that God had plans for him here. That if he does indeed know the Lord, that it is his job to tell people about him and live out the love he has found only in him. I should have assured him that his life has meaning and purpose. It also made me think about a class I took last semester. The topic for the class was the problem of evil. How can God be wholly good and omnipotent, and evil still exist? Well, this was discussed for the entire semester so I can't put it all in a little box for you, but one conclusion I came to was that without any suffering in the world there would be no reason for compassion. What would move people to act? There are many people that are just now beginning to experience hardship they have never known. Some will for longer periods than others. Over time however this experience will allow many to feel compassion that was never possible without their own lack or the lack of others.
Just something to think about.
I am thinking about going back to talk to that man.