I had just pulled into the gas station, walked over to pay for my petrol and then back to the pumps to fill my car up.  I just sat there and watched the numbers go up and thought about the numbers in my bank account going down.  OH JOY!

As I was leaning up against my car I heard somebody digging in the trash by the other pump, so I turned around and was kinda thrown off by what I saw.  A guy who didn’t look like your typical homeless guy.  His shoes looked like they had a little wear in them but not extremely dirty, his pants and shirt was clean and he had a small back packers backpack on.  As he was digging in the trash for bottles and cans, he seemed to hide behind a blue hat that covered his face from anybody noticing who he was.

He finished getting everything that he could salvage for money out of that trash can and was headed over to see if anybody had tossed any other treasures that he could recycle and make a few extra coins for some food.  What could I say to this guy to get into his life and hear a quick cliff note version of why he was digging in the trash for bottles and cans.  So I prayed,  “Father give me the words to say to break the ice and get through that awkward meeting stage”.

“Uh… Are you looking for cans and bottles for anything in particular?”  Yeah that was the stupidity that came out of my mouth.

But God totally used it to start a full on conversation with this guy about his life and how he ended up on the streets.  He had been brought over from Michigan by the government after deployment and he raised money through collecting cans to eat.  He continued to talk about his struggles in life and God allowed me to encourage him to seek after Christ.  What he said next through me off, because I explained how we can have a relationship with Jesus through prayer and reading the bible, and he said the “bible says not to pray so I don’t”.    Was this an issue I wanted to tackle?  Not really…  haha, but I new I had to address his understanding of God to allow Him to see the truth in God’s word.  We continued to talk and break down a little of the bible and his experience from the past, and keep in mind this is all within 5-10 minutes, but as it came to an end he asked me if I had a few dollars to give him.  I asked if I could pray for him and sure enough he said yes.  It was pretty awesome and powerful, so I gave him some money and encouraged him to go to church, read the bible and keep praying.  I don’t know where Jason will end up but I hope that he was encouraged to seek after Christ and see how much Joy he can find even in the midst of being homeless.

It is easy to get into a routine where everything is all about us and doing what we want to do.  But I want to encourage you to take the time to hear somebodies story and tell them about how amazing God really is.  It will bring Joy to your day!