We found Johnny Williams sleeping on a bench a few blocks
from our apartment. A chilling 15 degree Michigan
temperature left us no excuse to leave him there.
So we met Johnny. Michael had to practically carry him to
our apartment. We later learned that the alcohol “kept him out of
trouble.”
He couldn’t really talk well for the first bit. He just sat
on our chair, thawing, while Michael turned on the Gospel of John and helped
Johnny put on a new belt to hold his pants up.
Once Johnny started
coming around he TALKED and TALKED. “I just could talk for DAYS once ya’ll get
me started,” he would say.
Johnny has moved all over. At 56 years old he still gets
“bored” in one place. He likes mostly
the college towns. That’s where he
meets young kids who inspire him; “the
ones that aren’t scared to go on a plane, travel a little bit, go overseas and
get to know other people, or are not scared to talk to a homeless man like Johnny.”
Johnny would say the
same things over and over again. He
would go on as if we didn’t hear him the first, second, or tenth time.
“Let me tell you something.”
“I was COLD…. C-O-L-D….Cold”
“I just walk away when people complain.
You know?”
“Why them parents teach them kids to HATE? Makes no sense.”
“I’ve met lots of people you know”
“Life is beautiful. That is a shut and closed case.”
“God is just
unexplainable.”
“This is a blessing, a blessing, a blessing, a blessing.”
“We have a saying. It goes, “Amazing Grace”. You ever hear
that before?”
“The Lord leads me to
every place I go.” ………… “I’d rather sit on that bench with my bottle and say
“HEY” to nice people like you. It keeps me out of trouble you know?”
Johnny was
honest. He was real and humble. He didn’t complain about his life. Not like the
people complain who have all the comforts. He accepted his decisions. He didn’t
want to cause problems or be an inconvenience. He acknowledged God. He saw the
positive.
Johnny is just missing his purpose. So he is okay with being
homeless. Jesus was homeless and saved all of humanity. Homelessness is not
Johnny’s identity. Johnny’s eternal home is heaven. He is God’s creation. Created for a purpose. I desperately want
Johnny to know that God wants to use him on the streets. To give light to those
who complain to him. To not hide his extreme pain with alcohol, but to let God
face it and heal it for him. Poor Johnny must have been through so much. I try
to understand why he would use alcohol. I would want to numb everything in the
C-O-L-D and phase away from the negative people too.
Johnny has faith but
has probably just been told that he is NOTHING and has just been “that homeless
guy.” That is unacceptable. Johnny
needs to know that faith means God has amazing plans for him. Plans to get him
in the right frame of mind and fill him with the Holy Spirit and send him on a
mission trip. City to City. Maybe Bench to Bench or home to home. Loving
someone to loving the next person.
Johnny needs to know that his life counts. That he is worth
everything in God’s eyes and God wants to use him.
I love relationships. I know that with everyone I meet, I
meet Jesus. He says that “whatever you do for the least of these, you do for
me.” I love knowing that I met Jesus when I met Johnny. Who wouldn’t want to
meet Jesus? I DID though!! I met Jesus and fell in love with him even more.
