Meet Lisanandregordan (I know… it’s a dope name). I met him while I was ordering food at a local restaurant. He was yelling at me through a window and yelled for me as I was making my order.
I came up to him hesitantly and with a slightly bad attitude to be honest. By now we have been asked so many times for money, and I thought this was just another guy doing the same thing.
But then he asked if I could get him food. So I thought that’s way better than giving him money, not knowing where he would spend it.
I invited him in the restaurant and sat down with him. We got to talking and I was asking him about his story.
Turns out he was sent to juvenile hall when he was 9 years old. Another child who I believe he was fighting with at the time “accused” him for child molestation. He was released when he was 18. He is 23 years old now.
True or not, I was impressed by his honesty. If I was asking someone for a favor, I wouldn’t be as blatant about a crime that I may or may not have committed. And I was just shocked by the fact that at 9 years old, he was sent to juvenile hall. There was so much going on in my head at that moment. I honestly didn’t know what to say or feel. But I prayed, asking the lord how I can show His love to this guy.
So I ordered him food, the same thing that I got. We bowed our heads to pray for our meal and we started to eat. I continued to ask him about his life.
He says he can’t get a proper job because he has a criminal record. He does side jobs but sometimes people are dishonest and don’t pay him after he does the work. He has a half sister that lives with her father. She is 8 years old. His mother died when he was 21 years old. And his 24th birthday was the next day!!
I asked him if he knew who Jesus was. He said he does. But as expected, it’s a “genie Jesus” who may or may not grant you your wish. Him and I smiled and laughed at the idea.
There’s really nothing super amazing about this story. It was just a another regular day, a regular afternoon. But getting to share a meal with someone that people often ignore or look down on and tell him that he is loved by the one who is the very definition of it… that was pretty cool.
