Just watching Cliff bringing the mundane to life, and life to routine through his acts of loving kindness back in his hometown in Canada has been altogether touching.
It’s not that he isn’t like this elsewhere in the world except on his own turf, but having the privilege to be in such close contact with him day-in, day-out, has given me more opportunities to witness his consistency in character.
On a busy subway tunnel in downtown Toronto, he stops naturally, without hesitation, to help a mother with a young child with her luggage down three tiers of steps, amidst a rushing, apathetic crowd; At the postal office waiting in line, he offers to help the postal office staff with carrying a heavy box; On a cold Spring morning at a bustling sidewalk, he stops to say hello and buy an elderly beggar a hot coffee.
And what touched me the most, was seeing him, having bumped into a couple newly emigrated to Canada at the health service office, agree to wait for them and send them home because they have no car in a foreign land and are simply overwhelmed by the public transportation system.
I am ashamed to say I said no at first, that we had to get going to our next appointment instead of waiting for this couple whom we hardly knew, especially since the wait at the health office could be up to an hour. We didn’t know how long they would be waiting in line, how long their administrative issues would take. Personally, I was offended that they had been audacious enough to ask quite pointedly if we had a car, and if we could drive them back home.
Quite appalled at how direct their request was, I frowned and uttered to Cliff, “My gosh, he’s so rude. They’re strangers to us. ”
But as soon as we left the health office, we turned back, because we both knew that God had called us to be hospitable to strangers, and if He had called us to love strangers all the way in Uganda, could we not love people and show hospitality to those He had brought right to our doorstep? How could we say no? When we were strangers and missionaries in foreign lands, did the local people not go out of their way too to help us feel at home, at their own expense?
So we waited, and sent the couple to their requested destinations nearby- the husband to his workplace and the wife back home. We learned that the husband had to rush to the supermarket as a store cashier to work till late at night to make ends meet, and their 5-year old daughter was waiting at the bus-stand for her mommy to pick her up. Without this simple ten-minute car-ride, they might take up to an hour just waiting for the public bus to get to their destinations.
It is moments like these that make me realize how little God demands of us, but that our complete, not partial, obedience means everything to Him. It is times like these that make me overwhelmed with gratitude to God for blessing me with this man of tested character, not in grand cinematic ways, but in his making heroic moments out of the littlest everyday opportunities, even in how he loves his cat, and in his loving me.
Cliff and his temperamental 14-year old house-cat, Jojo
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you,
and you shall love him as yourself,
for you were strangers in the land of Egypt:
I am the Lord your God.”
– Leviticus 19: 33-34