Hug the Homeless

Jesus Christ was a homeless man. He could easily fall asleep in the prow of a ship, because he was use to having to sleep in unusual places. I'm sure it was really annoying to be woken up just because of a little storm.

While I was offline, I stayed in a Wal-mart parking lot for a week, sleeping in my van. At the time, the Lord led me there, I did not know how long I would be there. I just obeyed. In an effort to save gas, I often left my van in the parking lot and walked to other places nearby. There was a Safeway store that had wifi a couple blocks away, so I would walk there with my laptop. I usually did not take any money with me.

As I was walking back one morning, I came across a homeless man. He had a cardboard sign that said, "Homeless. Please, anything will help. WWJD" I stood and talked to him for a bit. His name was Albie (short for Albert.) He said that he was fairly recently homeless, because the bills and house just got away from him after his wife died. His clothes were basically clean and he was wearing a cross around his neck. I told him that I didn't have anything to give him but asked if it was okay for me to pray for him. He said he would be very happy for me to pray for him. So I prayed for him to be healed of all his infirmities and rebuked any spirits of infirmity in the name of Jesus Christ. I thanked the Lord for how He always meets our needs.

We talked a little about Jesus. He told me a story about how at the church he used to go to he would always go up to the front whenever the preacher said, "Who wants to be saved." He said the preacher said to him, "Albie, why do you always come up, you are already saved." Albie said he told the preacher, "I need as much saving as I can get!" We both laughed. I told Albie that I'd see him around and walked back to my van.

The next day as I drove near the same spot, I saw Albie again. I had money on me this time so I parked the van and asked him if I could take him to lunch at the Burger King which was right at that corner. He said sure. So we went to the Burger King and ordered lunch. I thought I smelled alcohol as we were getting our sodas. We talked about where a person could get a hot shower in town, etc., when he said, "my names Richard - what's yours"

!!!!

(yes, all you people who want to email me and tell me I'm an idiot. Don't bother, I already know)

I asked Richard if he knew Albie. He said that the old hands have been teaching Albie the ropes around there. Soon, I was finished eating and I told Richard it was nice to meet him and I left.

There are no accidents on this trip. Richard must have needed a hot meal, just like any other homeless person, although I felt like a complete dork.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunities to give to the downtrodden, whether a prayer or a meal. Thank you for always giving me a roof over my head, even if it is just my van. Thank you for being so awesome and wonderful. In the name of Jesus Christ. amen.