It matters....

I've been in this weird, distant, confused, state lately and I'm hoping it works itself out soon. It's like I'm really still even though physically I've been really busy. I'm not moving forward and I'm not moving backwards....I'm just stuck in pause though everything around me is still in play.

We have a friend that wrecked his truck that he worked out of and didn't have insurance so we gave him our truck to use to get back on his feet. That's what you do; when a friend is in need you step up and help out. In doing this, it has prevented us from going to the streets for a while. I think that has contributed to my pause mode. I miss it. I miss our friends. I drive through down town everyday going home and I purposely drive down the streets we are accustomed to visiting in hopes of seeing some of our friends. I have ran into a few but it's just not the same.

I did have a truly in your face "this is so much a part of the bigger picture moment" a few weeks ago. It was Memorial weekend to be exact. My phone rang and I'm not one to answer the phone when it's a number I don't know. Well it was a number I didn't know so I didn't answer it. A few seconds later a different number I didn't know called. Something in my gut told me to answer and it was our friend DiAngelo on the other end. We met DiAngelo about 2 years ago and I fell in love with him the first time I met him. We first met at Austin St shelter when Scottie and I had made friends with the guys who ran the door and they let us come in. We were passing out little pieces of paper that had bible verses on them and DiAngelo came up to me and asked if I would pray for him. He was the first person that had every come up to me and asked for prayer. He told me he had a problem with cocaine and he wanted me to pray for him. He wanted me to pray for the money he was going to get paid that Friday because he knew where he would spend it. So we prayed and there was a connection from that point on. Months would go by before I saw him again and each time we were out he would try to hide from us so I wouldn't see him....because he was high. Every time I would find him and go up to him and ask about his dad and his mom because that's what we would always talk about. And sometimes I knew he was high but I didn't care. My job wasn't to fix him but to love him....unconditionally....in his condition. And I did.

So DiAngelo was on the other end of the phone and he has had our phone number for over a year and a half and has never once called us. I said "hey what's up, how are you?" and he had called to let us know that his dad had passed away. He thought to call us. Because all the times we crossed paths that's what we talked about....his dad. We would talk about how his heart was doing, when he was going to dialysis, the last time they went fishing and on and on.....and it mattered. Out of all the people that run through your mind when your heart is breaking....he thought to call us.....that mattered....to me.

It was like I was in pause and God decided to push rewind and play at the same time. Like God saying, remember when you did this...it mattered. I put you there for a reason. Even though it seemed insignificant at the time....it mattered.

He wanted us to come and meet his family. His mom, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews....his family. So we did. We went to his momma's house and met his family. We walked in and the first thing I did was hug his momma and ask how she was doing. Little did I know at the time but that made a huge impact on her as well. DiAngelo later informed me that his momma wasn't very fond of white people and the fact that we drove all that way to support her family and hug her neck all because of the love we have for her son meant a lot to her. Again...it mattered. Even huggin his momma was a part of the bigger picture

Even beyond that God's hand was all over this picture. He used a wheelchair that was once DiAngelo's dad's to fulfill a need of a homeless man that needed a new wheelchair the very next day. I won't go into that story now....but it was beautiful.

I love how you can see beauty and truth in ugly things. I love how you can see God's perfection in an imperfect world. I love how God allows us to see....if we would only allow ourselves to look.

DiAngelo

This was the last time we saw DiAngelo on the streets....and he was high. He tried to avoid me like the black plague but I spotted him and called him out on hiding from me. We prayed that day.....he's been clean since this day. Keep him in your prayers.

Britney and Scottie