Oh dear. A loud ring on the doorbell at quarter to eight this morning. The Vicar went down to greet the postman. And alongside him, on the Vicarage doorstep, was Gone. Just like he was this time last year.
If you’ve started reading since last summer, you’ll not know that Gone is homeless man, an alcoholic, who spent six weeks or so living on our doorstep last summer. His presence was rather all-consuming at the time, so we’re a little wary of his reappearance.
He’s been in prison for ten months and is out on licence. So he only lasted a couple more months on the street after we firmly told him we were only going to help him to help himself by going to Betel. We didn’t have the strength to supply any more cheese on toast. And the Queen needed her sleep (he had a propensity to sing loudly and drunkenly under her window at 5am).
Since he left, though, Betel have opened a shop in our town, so the Vicar has gone down there with him now to see if Gone can overcome his anxieties enough to get himself onto Betel’s excellent programme. Watch this space for more news… (and if you want to read the rest of Gone’s story, there’s a box on the right hand side of the blog, with all my previous posts from last summer).
The Vicar's Wife 
There’s space at Betel. Gone has gone to sober up. If he comes back at 2:00pm we’ll have him interviewed for a place at Betel tomorrow. Do pray.
If it’s any consolation, Gone turned up at West Brom Community Church on Sunday and certainly stirred things up for the few who were having breakfast there!
We fed him and tried to help but he was non-cooperative to say the least. Will be praying he gets a place at Betel.
[…] He’s back after a 10 month spell in the clink. You can read more about him over at the vicar’s wife. We hope he’ll decide to go to Betel and start a new life with a Christian community. […]
Blimey. So it really is just like Rev? And there was me thinking it wasn’t very true to life…
What I would do if someone like Gone turned up on the doorstep of our country church, I do not know. I wish him (and those who are trying to help him) well.
Some has criticised Rev as having a motive against certain sections of the Church. Those working in inner city areas can almost see Rev as a documentary. There are problems and laughter and jolly strange goings on in real life. The only aspect that I thought was well beyond the realms of possibility was the “top deck of a bus” occurence before Mrs Vicarage was married.
Well, Gone didn’t show up at 2pm to talk to Betel and we’re not convinced he really wants to go. Not sure where this leaves us. Hoping that he’s not singing under the Queen’s window early tomorrow. And praying for courage for him to do what he needs to.
Just a quick update on Gone, if you’ve not followed the Twitter updates. He went, he came back. And then he went and came back again. But since Friday he’s not been around at all. I think he knew we were serious about only helping him with getting to Betel. So he’s somewhere else now. He’s looks so much more ill than when he was here last summer. I’m not sure what his future holds…
Good to see Keith making an appearence hear. West Brom foodbank does a brilliant job.