A little over two weeks ago, Shane and I embarked on a road trip with the boys to visit his grandmother in Colorado. Pueblo, Colorado is where my husband lived as a child. He moved to Alabama when he was in high school. The trip was also to visit some old friends, see the town, and eat lots of Mexican food with Pueblo Green Chilies.
Shane put me in charge of hotels. So, I went on the major hotel booking sites and researched the best hotels within our price range. I found the perfect one, brand new at a great price, downtown near the River-walk.
It took 48 hours to get to Pueblo. We were tired, but we went ahead and dropped by his grandmothers to say Hi. By the time we got the hotel, it was dark. Two men walked up to the hotel loading area, as we were unloading the kids. One walked in before us and asked to use the phone. You could smell liqueur on him and could tell he might not have had had a bath in while. He looked homeless. The lady was gracious and let him use the phone.
We checked in. Shane encouraged me to go to the room and get the kids ready for bed. He didn't feel that it was safe to be outside with the children. I told him that I felt better going with him and that the homeless guys would be less likely to mug a family with toddlers.
As we walked out, the homeless men were sitting on the sidewalk about 8 feet from the back of our car. One of the guys said something to Evan in a gruff tone. Shane immediately responded my "Hey man, don't scare my kid." The man was very apologetic. Shane gave them both a drink from our cooler. This opened up a opportunity for conversation. As Shane unpacked the car, I put Issac in a stroller and with Evan's hand in mine we walked close to the men and I begin to talk to them.
Ralph was the man who used the phone. He was pretty quiet and casually dressed in slacks. Micheal was his friend. He was the talkative one. Micheal had on shorts and a t-shirt. He reminded me of Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump after returning from war. He had both the facial hair and a prosthetic leg. They shared with me that there were not enough beds for the homeless in Pueblo. And how there were only 50 beds and 3000 homeless
They told me about their grandchildren and how old they were-my dad's age. I gave them each a copy of Missions Moments 2 to read and pass on to their adult children for their grandchildren. Micheal was exited to hear that I was a Christian. So excited he stood up and begin showing me his tattoos. On his right forearm, he had I Corinthians 13 written and on the other forearm he had the Fruits of the Spirit listed. We recited them together.
Micheal started pointing out Christian references on his highly decorated prosthetic leg. He told me that he had Jesus on his leg. Then he proceeded to sit down take off his prosthetic leg and show me and Even a picture of Jesus on the back of his prostheses. I really didn't know how to respond other than saying, "Look Evan, there's Jesus!" (I'm not sure how this is going to effect his theology!)
We talked until Shane had unload and parked the car...and eventually dragged me and the kids into the hotel.
It was a blessing to meet Micheal and Ralph. I thanked God for the Divine appointment. We had prayed as a family that on our journey God would put people in our paths to show Jesus' love to. God answered our prayers several times and blessed us in the process.
I hope to blog about the interesting conversation I had with them latter in the week. I asked them how they felt Christians responded to the needs of the homeless and what I could personally do to help them. They responded and also told me about their small community under the bridge.
