Yesterday my teammates and I were on one of our ice cream runs into San Ray, when we saw a man sitting in the middle of the road. As we drew closer to him, we realized that he looked awfully familiar. We came to a conclusion that this was the same man we had helped up a few weeks before in almost the exact same spot.
Now this old man was obviously intoxicated, and his many missing teeth made his Spanish extremely difficult to comprehend. After we got him situated on the curb he began talking quite a bit, and when I say that, I mean a lot. He would not stop murmuring about music and who knows what. We also realized that this man was near to deaf. Despite our limited Spanish skills, we decided he was trying to get us to take him to his house.
As we walked him home we found out his name was Antonio, and his neighbors guided us to his home. Thought the block walk to his house, he would not stop talking; we couldn’t even get a word in.
We entered his house and he immediately took us over to the far side of his single room home. There were bottles of liquor on top of his dresser and a lot of pictures hung on the wall. The pictures were of a woman, a young boy, and of Jesus. After breaking into tears he told us that his wife and his son died eight years ago. So much pain was in his heart while he described them to us.
Antonio had us take him over to his bed and set him down. We asked to pray for him and after we did, he broke down again. He was so thankful for people who actually cared what he had to say and didn’t look at him as just an alcoholic. Many hugs were given by Antonio before we went our separate ways.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t hesitant to show Antonio love, I would be lying if I said that I was totally confident entering his home, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t cast any judgement upon him during the time we spent with him. I think the thing to learn here is that Jesus was not hesitant to love the outcasts of society. Jesus showed unconditional love and immense compassion to lepers, adulterers, the deaf, the blind, the lame, the sick, and the tax collectors. Christ Jesus is not afraid to love either, his perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18). Jesus does not cast any judgement, but instead takes away judgement from all those who call on his name (Romans 10:13). I realized yesterday that my love for people has to increase and that Jesus is the perfect model for loving the least of these.
I also learned that we always need to listening to others. If we would not have really hunkered down and tried to listen to what Antonio had to say, we would have missed so much. We would have never got to hear about his wife, his son, and his love for music. The stories that I’ve heard while being on the Race have been absolutely nuts, and I’m sure I’ve missed out on hearing so many others. I’m so grateful that the Lord crossed our path with Antonio’s yesterday.
– Pray that Antonio would treasure Jesus Christ, and let go of the empty promise of alcohol.
– Pray that God would give Antonio peace and comfort from losing his wife and son.
– Pray that God would continue to allow us to listen more than we speak (James 1:19).
