Yesterday when I was getting out of my car and heading into my complex I was approached by a homeless man. I told him I didn't have any money, and he asked me if I had anything I could give him that he could sell. I told him that I didn't. Then he said that what he really wanted was some shoes.

I looked at his feet. He was wearing those plastic "gardening shoes" you get from a drug store. I asked him what size he wore. He said 13. I told him to wait a few moments and ran up to my apartment.

I came back down with my purple converse and a flannel jacket for him. His eyes lit up as he put them on. We had a small conversation about things. I told him that I wore those same shoes in my wedding. He told me he has been separated since '90. I shook his hand and we exchanged names. I could swear he walked taller and with his head up as he walked away.

It was an interesting moment for me. Giving those shoes to a homeless man on the 2 year anniversary of my new life. I wasn't planning on giving those shoes away at the moment, but when he said he wore size 13 I felt it would have been selfish not to give them to him. It's interesting to think how those shoes started with me, and now how they will end with him.

It was also an interesting experience to give things away that just a moment before were considered "mine" and having no intention of parting with them. When I think back on it, there are many other things that I could have easily given him.

And the humility I felt watching him try on that jacket and tie up those shoes can't be explained. It wasn't an overly emotional moment, just a very real one. For those few minutes we were just two guys talking. Luke talking to David. David talking to Luke.

My friend Chip sent me a quote yesterday that I couldn't agree more with. So I will leave it with this.

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but rather spiritual beings having a human experience."
Pierre Tielhard de Chardin