Seth Barnes Jr. participated in the September 2007 World Race – Squad D. Shortly after he returned, he felt the Lord calling him to Nicaragua. He continues to have his heart broken and minister the Lord’s love to the drunk, the sick and the homeless of Granada. He shares how he met a man, hurting and devoid of dignity and how he shared God’s love.
Here’s something I learned recently – when a person’s need is so great that you don’t know how to respond, ask God how to help and watch out for a small way to connect to their heart. For Julio, it was a bath. This describes my relationship with him in the three visits I paid him.
I met Julio in the hospital, I had seen him around town. Julio is a homeless man and looks it. I never paid him much heed, but seeing him this time, I wondered about him. I walked over to him and saw that, along with his right leg, his left hand was crippled, bending stiffly back to the outside of his arm. I began asking him questions and got to know him a little.
I asked Julio if there was anything I could do for him. “I need soap,” he answered. “Look at how dirty I am. The hospital has a bathing area, but I don’t have soap to use.” I quickly walked outside to a lady with a basket of basic goods such as soap, toothpaste, toothbrush and shampoo. I bought them all and returned to find Julio still sitting alone in his wheelchair where I left him. I wheeled him into the bathroom and saw that his pain was too great for him to move himself much at all.
I helped to remove his clothing, which reeked of urine, and lifted him to his chair in the shower. Each step along the way, I found that there was really very little he could do by himself. In the end it was a team effort getting him clean. I only wish that he had new clothing and didn’t have to return his body to the filthy clothes he still wears. This experience renewed my heart for the homeless.
About a month after this first encounter with Julio, I went back to the hospital and found that he was still there! When he saw me his eyes lit up and he started talking quickly in Spanish, smiling and making bathing gestures. He showed me that he could now walk, with a little pain, and said he still had about five weeks in the hospital. We sat and talked for a bit, although a lot fell through the cracks. I asked Julio about his family and his past and watched as he mumbled on for a while about what I couldn’t tell. Tears filled his eyes and his voice broke. We sat in silence for a little while, as I threw up paltry prayers in my head.
Yesterday I returned to see Julio a third time. I noticed that he was still wearing the same clothes. I asked him if he had bathed since that first day I met him and didn’t understand his response. Regardless, it was clear he was due for another. The first time, I struggled through it with the foul stench, rotting parts on his body and pervasive flakes in his hair. This time, having seen the deep love he felt and the joy he had in knowing someone cared about him, gladness overwhelmed me. I also brought him a pair of clean clothes, which he gladly change into. He looked sharp considering his circumstances.
Wheeling Julio past all the people in the hall back to his room, there was silence as they looked at him. I wondered what they were thinking about this homeless man. But I did know how God felt about him.
*photo courtesy of flickr.com
