15 Minutes of Shame

Andy Warhol stated that at some point in our lives we are all famous for 15 minutes. Hence, our 15 minutes of fame. Today, I experienced quite the opposite. It was my 15 minutes of shame.
As part of healthy work environment challenge I agreed to spend at least 15 minutes walking today. Now that is not a lot of time to spend on exercise, but for someone who has not been the most diligent in his exercise routine, it was at least something. I decided to walk around close to the office to put in my 15 minutes.
For those of you who are not familiar with Springfield, our office is close to Commercial Street which is home to a lot of outreach programs for the needy. When I was looking at moving to Springfield I was told by a Realtor to avoid moving to a loft on Commercial because "it's where all the homeless people are."
So today I set out on my 15 minute adventure and as I walked I started to pay particular attention to those I saw. The homeless, the poor, the hungry, the desperate. I suddently became very aware of my selfishness as I walked along in my Prada sunglasses. I felt literally ashamed.
Jesus spent only 33 years on this Earth. He spent most of His three years in ministry surrounded by the broken, the poor, the needy, the desperate. They were the people that He came here for and those are the people that He reached out to. How in the past 2000 years that we have lost that direction I am not sure.
As I walked along, I smiled at people, I said "hello", and then I returned to the comfort of my office, knowing that I would soon be at home and able to have a nice dinner and sleep in my own bed. I can't stop thinking about those 15 minutes. Perhaps God chose those 15 minutes to remind me of who I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to be doing here on this Earth. All I know is that I learned quite a bit from my 15 minutes of shame.