A while back, I was hungry and decided to stop at Subway for some lunch. As I was walking up to the door, I noticed a man sitting against the wall with a large camping backpack. He was obviously homeless. As soon as I saw him, I decided to purchase him some food and eat lunch with him. My plan was to split my sandwich with him. I ordered my sandwich. As soon as I was done paying, I noticed he was walking toward the street. I ran outside and asked him if he wanted to eat. To my surprise, a girl who was with him responded they did want something to eat. I had not realized she was with him. I gave them the sandwich and got them some Dr. Pepper per their request.
After ordering another sandwich for myself, I sat with the couple on a small wall outside the restaurant. I learned their names were Kevin and Lynn. They had been homeless for five years and had walked hundreds of miles during that time. After talking for a while, I felt they really opened up to me. They told me how hard their lives were and how people treated them. They explained people would take photos of them without their permission; that really bothered the. They are considered a nuisance and are always told to keep moving along, but they have nowhere to go. They had been permanently kicked out of every store in that mini-mall complex because they had no money to spend.
I asked Kevin if he felt like he was stickin’ it to them a little bit since he had been permanently kicked out of the Subway, but he was eating their food anyway. He smiled.
They brought up the homeless shelters where they had tried to stay. They explained the shelters are mostly Christian organizations, and they were always split up because they are not legally married. We started talking about Jesus, and I asked them if they had Bibles. They had one, and they said they read it somewhat regularly. Kevin mentioned how he had been kidnapped at one point, and he wanted to share his testimony with different church organizations.
Lynn brought up that she was forced to watch Kevin get assaulted when he was held against his will. It was a horrifying story. As we finished our food and the conversation started to wind down, Lynn told me how scared she was to die. I asked her if she was going to heaven when she died, then why was she so scared? Kevin said Lynn is going to heaven, but he was not sure about himself. I explained to him all one has to do is believe in what Jesus has done.
That is the Gospel. Jesus did what we could not do and took what we deserved, and He gave us what He earned.
There is nothing one can do except have faith. I felt like we ended on a good note. I shook their hands and told them, “May God Bless you,” and they told me not to work too hard. They went on their way, and I went back to work.